It's All Relative
by CornCob
Summary: AU. Highschool Fic. Tseng and Zack are half brothers, and Zack is crushing on Tseng's bestfriend. What is a man to do? Eventual SephZack main pairing, TsengRufus minor. A few characters from KH.
1. Chapter 1

**It's All Relative**

Chapter One;_ Can you say: Sleep Obsession?_

As Cloud entered his house after an exhausting day of forcing Leon to help him find Zack a birthday gift (which was by no means an easy task), only one thought was on his mind.

And that one thought most certainly did not involve a rather worried looking Ms. Strife as he passed through his livingroom. Cloud gave her an apologetic look, knowing good and well that it was past his curfew of 11pm.

_What kind of curfew is eleven-o-clock anyway? And I'm only an hour late.. _Cloud thought, praying his mother would let it slide, just this once. Of course, this was the third time this week he had come home late, so the odds weren't in Cloud's favor.

As she opened her mouth, Cloud knew he was going to have to endure a mouthful before he got any sleep tonight.

Cloud's POV

Well that took longer than expected...apparently she had been very worried and had spent the last 2 hours watching the news to hear about any reported muggings or rapes...My mom may be a little paranoid.

Oh well, I made it home safe and unviolated, so all that matters now is sweet, beautiful, glorious sleep.

Slowly I manage to cross the room and close the gap between me and my bed, swinging my door shut behind me. I don't remember the bed being this far away. That, or I am just suffering sleep deprivation. Probably the second one.

Regardless, should the situation ever come up again in the future, I made a mental note to slide my bed closer to the door the next morning.

Sleep, finally. I have been on my feet All. Damn. DaySeriously. Who knew that Zack was so hard to shop for? Leon didn't seem to have too hard a time. Then again, he has always had better luck with this type of thing anyway. We were there for barely 15 minutes and he had already found what he was going to get for Zack! Stupid Leon..If he weren't my best friend, I would have smothered him in his sleep long ago. The same can be said for Zack.

Speaking of sleep...Now there was an idea to rock the ages. I happily threw back the sheets and stared down at the bed admiringly.

"Now before I lay down." I said to noone in particular, "I would like to thank God for bestowing upon me the greatness that can only be the Pillow-Top Mattress."

With that being said, I wasted no time sliding into my heap of blankets and snuggling into the dip in my mattress that had gotten progressively larger over the last few years. I didn't mind. I like to think of it as my mattress hugging me after a long, hard day without me. It fit me perfectly. Like a glove. I let myself smile at the thought.

I was in heaven as I felt relaxation overtake my body, and began to reflect on my day. I hope Zack likes the gift I got him. He probably won't, my idea was stupid. Leon had the right idea, going to Toys-R-Us. Why couldn't I have thought of that? Maybe Leon will let me sign my name on his gift, too. After all, if you can't pick up each other's slack, what were friends for?

..Within six seconds I am out like a light. Yes, I use the 'out like a light' saying.

Mmm...wonderful, glorious sleep...

Wait...what?

I'm awake...something is wrong here. I distinctly remember falling asleep...okay I don't remember actually _falling _asleep, but I know I did it, okay?

WHY IS MY PHONE RINGING! Who would dare call me at...3 AM!

Yes...three AM...this was a travesty.

Sighing heavily I shrug my way out of my little sanctuary and answer the phone.

"Hello?" I mutter out weakly. Wow...that sounded pathetic. But can you blame me? It's three-fucking-_AM_. My mental rant was cut off when the voice on the other end made it's self known.

"Gooooood Morning!" the sleep offender sang out cheerily. "IT'S MY BRITH DAY!"

I think my ears are bleeding...I should have known. Who else would call me at three in the morning...well, other than that guy who really REALLY wants to sell me that new kitchen appliance, but he doesn't count.

Remind me to one day teach Zack proper phone user courtesy.

"Happy Bi-" I break for a yawn, "-rth day, Zack. It's 3 am."

"I know! In 28 seconds I will officially be 17!" He said, in a way too happy to be 3-goddamn-in-the-morning voice. It's amazing how a person can be so optimistic at all times of the day.

Despite my loss of sleep, I couldn't help but smile. Zack WOULD be the kind of baby to be born in the middle of the night. Just to be difficult and keep everyone up. It comforted me to know that I wasn't his mother all those years ago, and that I was just the one on the phone with him. Have I ever mentioned that the birthing process disgusts me?

As Zack began his enthusiastic count down for the next 28 seconds, I hear a moan of sheer agony in the background. A moan that could have only come from Zack's older half brother, and short-term 'room mate', Tseng. After some incident( whom of which the details were never made know to me), it was some sort of punishment their parents had handed Tseng, in which he would be forced to share a room with his little brother for the next handful of months. Suddenly I didn't feel so annoyed at being woken up by Zack to "celebrate" his exact time of birth since I knew Tseng was there, taking it in person, full force. I also knew he had to be up in about 2 hours to get to work. My heart went out to him, it really did.

Just as Zack was about to exclaim the last number of the countdown, I heard a shift of movement through the phone, followed by a surprised yelp, and aggravated growl, some ruffling, and a smug chuckle followed by a dial tone. It didn't take much guess work, even in my sleepy state, to know that Zack just had his happy ass handed to him by his very irritable older brother.

As good as Tseng and Zack could, _COULD_ being key here, get along, (because even though he wasn't the _nicest_ guy around, Tseng was pretty cool), you didn't test Tseng. You just didn't. Especially when he was forced to share the confines of a not-too-terribly large room with you...And you woke him up at random intervals during the night yelling about your birth second...

And the fact that he was best friends with one of the most intimidating people on the planet just added to the reasons why you didn't want to get on his bad side. Yea, the friendship shared between Tseng and Sephiroth was enough to make anyone pretty much stay hell away. But I digress from the topic at hand.

Realizing that I could now put down the phone, since I was pretty sure Zack wouldn't be calling back tonight, I dropped it on its cradle (it was like a little Phone-bed, if you thought about it..) and made my way back to the bed.

Laying down, still slightly smiling from the walking, crazed distraction that was one of my two best friends, I thought briefly just how insane tomorrow would be. After all, Zack's birthday was _bound_ to be interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

Generic Ridiculous Disclaimer

I do not own any characters, groups, or corporations mentioned in this story.

(This goes for chapter one as well).

**_Chapter Two_**

Tseng's POV

Well...Today is the day. The day I have been dreading ever since I was told I would be temporarily rooming with my hyperactive little brother. Brother, half-brother, whatever.

It's Zack's birthday. Yes. I am absolutely positive. You know why? Because when you wake up to Zack singing "Happy Birthday" to himself two minutes before your alarm, it's pretty damn obvious. Let it be known that the boy can _not_ carry a tune.

Did he even go to sleep last night? _Does _he sleep? What is he doing?

...Is he making him_self _a card?

I've been awake for a grand total of 10 seconds, and already I have thought myself in circles.

"What are you doing?" I hear myself ask before I can stop myself. Stupid, stupid me. NEVER consort with the enemy. Especially the overly perky kind.

I should have pretended to be asleep, now that he knows I'm up, he will never leave me alone.

He looked away from whatever it was he was crafting and gave me that care free smile.

"I'm trying to make gift bags for my birthday guests." Sometimes I wonder if my brother is really a 7 year old girl stuck in a young man's body.

As he stood up to show me his handiwork, he managed to bump against the desk and spill glue all over the work cloths I had laid out the night before. Great.

This boy is a menace.

He glanced casually down at the pasted coated garments and shrugged a little.

"Good thing you won't need them today."

What was he talking about? I had to be at my pathetic job at the book store in a little over an hour. He is such an idiot. Before I even had to ask, he answered me.

"I called and told them you were sick. Puking everywhere. Very bad, very nasty." He paused a moment before continuing. " But that was after I told them that you were hit by a bus and wouldn't be able to make it, and before I said you were stuck in bed because your legs fell asleep. I guess they were worried, because they gave you a vacation."

...My boss gave me a vacation? That's unusual.

"She said don't bother coming in again."

Oh. I was fired.

Sighing to myself, I decide not to strangle him for making me lose my job, and head downstairs to the kitchen. I figured it would be a long day, so I may as well enjoy a nice, peaceful breakfast. It isn't like I could get back to sleep anyway.

It seemed that fate had other plans for me, however, because I could hear Zack's footsteps following me into the kitchen.

I suppose now would be a good time to ask the question that had been bothering me for quite some time now.

"Zack," I began, and he paused for making what appeared to be a Banana and Muffin...cereal? And was that a pork chop!...never mind.

"For your birthday..your friends. They aren't sleeping over, are they?"

Oh please say No. Oh please oh please oh please.

"Well, it would be rude of me to have people sleep over without running it by you first."

Thank God.

"But since it is my birthday, and I have parental consent, it doesn't really matter. Cloud, Leon, and Demyx are staying over."

He smiled as he said 'Demyx.' He knew I couldn't stand the boy. It's not really that there was anything _wrong_ with him, I just can only take so many songs in a certain amount of time.

"Butttt..." he drawled out. "I _could_ just invite Cloud and Leon, and let you bring _someone_ instead. You know, so you don't have to get stuck in a room all alone, with your dear little brother and his little friends." As he said this, he slip the Pork Banana cereal -Monstrosity- my way and gave me an innocent look.

I see. So THAT'S what this is about. He followed me into the kitchen, made me 'breakfast,' and got me out of work (albeit permanently) for a reason. He wanted me to invite _someone_ over for his birthday. That someone being Sephiroth. Ever since that fateful day that the two met each other, Zack had done nothing to hide his...interest. And what an interesting day that had been. Sephiroth had been walking out of my house when Zack pulled up in the driveway. Of course, Zack had been so caught up ogling and making suggestive comments about Seph that he managed to take out the mailbox and put an unsightly dent into the bumper of OUR car. Needless to say, Sephiroth had not been impressed.

I never thought I would have to deal with my brother having a crush on my best friend. But hey, life is full of cruel, childish surprises..

But anyway..

I really didn't think that Sephiroth would go for being stuck in a room with Zack and his two friends. Besides, it was a well known fact, that while Seph didn't get along particularly well with most people, he and Leon HATED each other.

However...Maybe I could use this to bribe Zack in to convincing my parent's I deserved to have my own room again.

"You know that Sephiroth and Leon don't get along, right?"

Zack looked at me and rolled his eyes, as though this were no real problem.

"I'm sure I could convince LeeLee to lay off for a day. It is my birthday after all."

LeeLee...I almost felt sorry for Leon for getting tagged with that nickname. There are a few things in life I will never understand, one of them being my brother's psyche.

He continued hopefully after some thought, "And I am sure you could get Seph to do the same."

And where did he come up with _that_ idea? Me being Sephiroth's best friend should in no way imply that I have any control over his general hatred towards the human race...but it was worth a shot if it meant getting my privacy back.

"I'll see if he wants to come over. But you'll owe me."

"YES! SEPHIROTH IS GOING TO SLEEP IN MY ROOM!"

Rubbing my temples, I contemplated just how many brain cells Zack killed off devising this "plan." I would have asked, but he looked to wrapped up in his little victory dance.

So tonight I will be stuck in a room with Zack the head case, Cloud the strange, sleep obsessed argumentative creep, Leon the stiff (at least he was quite..usually), and possibly Sephiroth, who needs no description.

This was going to be a horrible day and following morning. I had no idea how sleeping in one room with one bed was going to work, but I did know one thing. I was _not _sleeping on the floor.

Pausing from my thoughts, I looked up to see Zack dialing the phone. Who would he call at 6 in the morning?

I heard some miserable groaning through the phone lines. I guess Zack decided Cloud had had enough sleep for the night. Something out of the incoherent mumbling must have pleased Zack because he happily told Cloud 'good-bye' and hung up the phone.

"I don't know how you keep friends" I told him. I certainly wouldn't keep him around if he was waking me up at all times of the day...then again, that seemed to be exactly what I was doing. Though, it didn't count because _I_ didn't have a choice.

Ignoring my comment, he instead told me something I could have gone without knowing.

"He's going to be over at 9, and he is picking Leon up in his way."

Only 3 hours left until what was once my mental sanity crumbles around me.

Heaven help me.

_some amount of time later_

**Clouds POV**

It's too early for this.

It's only 8 in the morning. I should still be asleep. And yet, here I am, sitting on Leon's livingroom couch, watching him dash around his house like mad.

When he answered the door he said something about "I swear to God if that damn dog ate up another pair of my shoes, I'll give him the chance to eat his own intestines."

Leon was a real gem. Haha.

Apparently he could not find his shoes anywhere, and couldn't possibly just find a different pair to sport for the day.

Who can even THINK about running around looking for shoes this early?

Okay, so maybe he isn't exactly running, just storming around angrily at a semi-quick pace. Gotta love Leon and his 2 inch temper.

I feel sorry for his dog..well, maybe not. The dog in question didn't sit too well with me. That was the dog that I had once woken up to humping the back of my head. That was _not_ a nice awakening. Especially when Zack is laughing his ass off and trying to whistle cat calls at the same time. Of course, all he managed to do was blow spit on Leon who was sitting and looking, obviously disturbed by his dogs "affair" with my head.

Okay. So I hate that dog.

I hope Leon ships it off to some lab where they can use it for testing shampoo or lava-proof suits or something.

Stopping my train of thought, I glanced down at the PETA shirt I was currently wearing. Hypocrite.

I sighed to myself.

"I love you PETA, I really do. But some animals just need to be destroyed."

Leon paused and threw an annoyed, yet amused, glance my way. I need to stop speaking out loud.

"Fuck PETA." came his only reply as he triumphantly pulled his shoes from under some random pile of...was that a unitard?...Whatever. Who am I to ask? His family is weeeeird...

Though I won't just let him talk about PETA like that. They are an important, successful group, dammit!

"There is nothing wrong with PETA, Leon."

Okay, so I may be a tad bit of an animal lover. Something my friends like tormenting me about.

..Like that time Zack ordered 6 buckets of KFC chicken wings and made them "scream in agony" every time he took a bite. He even made little chicken wing families, man! And he ate the babies first!...Of course he ended up laughing while doing it and choked rather violently. He got what was coming to him. And Leon was the lucky one who was hit by the flying chicken wedge as it dislodged itself from Zack's trachea. Leon had always been the victim of bad luck.

"We should have known you would be a hippie, Cloud."

Did I mention that my friends like making fun of my name? And for the record...I am not a hippie. I enjoy a good bath, thank you.

"Whatever Leon, lets just get over to Zack's house, now that you have your stupid shoes."

I have no idea how, but before I knew it he had managed to snatch the car keys out of my hands and made his way over to the door.

So I guess he's driving.

**End of Chapter Two.**

OoOoO

I hope PETA doesn't come burn my house down for mentioning them. That wouldn't be too exciting.

I am not sure how I feel about this chapter, the story seems kind of...slow to me. Or Pointless. Since I am still unsure where I am going with it.

I don't know.

Your opinion?

Please review! You know, if you like it: tell me! If you hated it...Tell me you like it! Ahah no, if it sucks, tell me so I can give up now.


	3. Chapter 3

Again, my "please don't sue me" plea.–I own nothing. No slurpee serving gas stations or fast food tycoons are mine. Nor are the characters.

**Chapter 3**

Leon's POV

It was around 9:15 when we pulled up in front of Zack's house. Cloud was currently trying to become one with the door of the car. I don't think he realizes that we are here yet. I also don't think he likes my driving. Something about being "Overly Aggressive."

Whatever.

It gets us where we need to be, and in half the time. If he had driven, it would have taken us about an hour to even back out of the drive way. Cloud drives like my grandmother. My -_dead-_ grandmother.

Looking over at him, I noticed his eyes were clenched shut. I'm not _that_ bad of a driver...Am I? Maybe I should lay off the 90 degree turns and my "nothing below 60" rule. Regardless, I guess I better tell him that we're here before his face gets stuck like that. Or before he has a mental breakdown.

Now that I think about it, I only passed drivers ed because we couldn't do over 10mph..and we never got to be on the real road..

"We're heeere" I said in mock-excitement.

For a brief moment, he had a look about him of extreme relief. The kind of look you expect a man who had been held hostage for the last 2 years of his like would give, after being freed and reunited with his family. Yea, something like that. It was a little bit insulting.

Suddenly he dropped his serene happiness and tossed a glare at me before all but throwing himself from the vehicle.

Somewhere between the 7/11 and the McDonald's, I think I pissed him off, because he locked up and wouldn't talk. He just kept glaring and occasionally twitching when we made a turn too fast. Seriously, I can't be that bad. I wonder why he is angry, though. We're ALIVE, aren't we? He may not like riding with me...but he has never gotten mad about it. Maybe it's because...Oh...I know why. It must have been be-

"Great! You're here! Now you can help me!" Screamed someone, who I assumed to be Zack, who was currently no where to be seen.

After a bit of scuffling and the heavy slamming of a car door, Zack made his way around the black jeep that his neighbor owned. I was about to comment about it being illegal to go through the private property of other people, but Cloud spoke up first.

"Happy Birthday!...Now what were you doing?"

"Eh, you know. Nothing." Came Zack's vague answer. Wow Zack, that was helpful.

"Well..." Aw, Cloud is confused. Suddenly realization seemed to dawn on him as he looked to Zack suspiciously. "Were you looking for presents? What are you, 12?"

Zack laughed and spoke in a very loud, and painfully fake voice. "No Way! Cloud you silly devil you."

'Silly Devil?' Remind me to have a talk with Zack about what to never say again.

He glanced around then, deciding it was safe before continuing in a much quieter voice.

"I can't find them anywhere! This is Insane! I have been able to find every year. Every. Single. Year. My parents can't hide _anything_ from me!"

I knew this is be a very large exaggeration, since one time, about three months ago, his parents took away his car keys. He searched for two _days_ before he gave up begged Tseng to help him. They had been sitting in the middle of the kitchen table the whole time.

"Maybe you're just getting rusty." I supplied a very hopeless looking Zack. He gave me a disbelieving look. "Me? Rusty? No way."

"Oh never." Cloud added sarcastically. "Perish the thought."

Hey. He's talking to me again...I think.

"You're not mad anymore?"

I guess he had forgotten, because his face went to being upset, and then to rolling his eyes and looking at me dejectedly..

"No...I can't _stay_ mad, I also can't just not talk to you...Just don't you ever, ever, EVER do it again, okay?"

'Can't. Just. Not. Talk.' Nice double negatives, Cloudy Boy.

Zack seemed to feel left out, and was staring at us pathetically, dying to know what horrible act I had committed to upset Cloud. Not that it was too terribly hard a thing to do. Cloud was a fairly easy target. Something, I must admit, both Zack and I exploit mercilessly. Like he doesn't deserve it..little Punk.

"I drove." I told him. He looked kind of skeptical, before motioning for me to elaborate.

"He got mad because I forgot to care about that squirrel that was trying to pass the _highway._" I emphasized Highway for Cloud. The squirrel was asking for it, you know.

"He flattened him!" Cloud said accusingly. "But I don't want to talk about it. I'm over it, and any reflecting will just upset me again." He said with an air of finality as he walked over and let himself into Zack's house.

As we followed him in, we were passed in the doorway by Tseng, who was apparently just leaving. He gave a pained glance at Zack, rolled his eyes, mumbled something about "taking the car," and left us.

Wondering about the glance he gave Zack, I inspected my odd friend a little more. It would seem he had made himself a Tee-Shirt. It was a hideous shade of Yellow, and in Mauve letters it proclaimed proudly "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!"

Only Zack would use _mauve_ of all colors. I was kind of ashamed I could recognize it, actually. He was also the only person who could look perfectly in his element in a ridiculous shirt like that. Except Demyx, who was known for wearing even stranger garments than Zack.

Deciding against commenting on the shirt, for that would only encourage this act in the future, I followed him deeper into his house.

He then ran over to the window and looked out.

"What are you waiting for?" You would ask, too.

"I have to make sure Tseng is gone. I told him I wouldn't invite Demyx over if he..." He looked over at me guiltily before finding a picture of his mother very interesting. "If he arranged my bookshelf for me."

Zack does not have a bookshelf. I don't even think Zack can _read._ I'll let it go for now, but I will beat it out of him later. One thing was apparent, Zack was going back on his side of the "deal."

And I was proven correct when he ran over to the phone and called up Demyx.

Wonderful..I like him and all, but I am going to have such a head ache.

I guess Zack had called him on his cell phone or something, and had made him wait across the street or something, because it only took about 2 minutes for him to get there after hanging up.

"Happy Birthday Zack!" Cried the largest, most horribly wrapped eye-sore of a gift I had ever seen. Demyx was known for his...creativity. It would seem that he used Christmas paper instead of Birthday paper. And It would appear that he ran out of that paper about half way through with it, and covered the rest with strategically placed post-it notes. The rest was covered with a pillow case.

I have a questionable choice in friends. All the normal ones were taken. Don't judge me.

"Hey Leo! How's your day? It's pretty early, where's Cloud?" Demyx rattled off, in his ever present happy state.

Where was Cloud?

"Right here. Hey Demyx." Cloud said, walking out of the bathroom ".If I were you, I would hide that gift somewhere good. Unless you want it to get ripped open the moment you look away...What's _wrong with it?_"

"Nothings wrong with it!" Demyx said defensively. "It's...festive!"

So that's what they call it now..

"..Okay, I'll buy that" Cloud agreed, nodding. Cloud and Demyx were a little too alike for my tastes. Well...a little. Demyx was always so cheerful, and Cloud was usually borderline happy with angry, sarcastic undertones. If that's anyway to explain it. They were both "save the Earth" freaks though. Damn Hippies.

---

"Rock your body Right!" Demyx promptly collapsed after finishing his 12th rendition of the Backstreet Boys for the night.

It was now 7 at night. I could now officially say I knew what it meant to be teetering on the edges of sanity.

The last 3 hours had been non-stop Karaoke time. I think my brain was dying a little more with each passing second. I know the sight of Cloud and Zack singing "RESPECT" would forever haunt my dreams.

The time before the Karaoke "party" hadn't been too much better. It had consisted of following Zack around his house a hundred times while he pretended that he was making progress in his "gift hunting." We were only saved from repeating this a hundred more times by a note. A simple, insignificant piece of paper that caused Zack all _kinds_ of let down. It hadn't said much, but what it said spoke volumes.

_**Zack,**_

_**Give-up. Mom and Dad told me to hide your shit.**_

_**You won't ever find them, so quit trying.**_

_**-Tseng**_

_**P.S. If you trash the room looking, I will take every damn one of those packages and toss them in a lake. Then whatever is salvageable after the deep sea experience, I will donate to a needy childrens' home.**_

That was Tseng for you. At the tender age of 19, he was a real sweetheart. I'm just grateful that he graduated last year, so I didn't have to deal with him at school anymore. Well, not really him, but I wouldn't have to deal with Rufus as much, one of Tseng's little wouldn't dare try and talk shit to me without his "bodyguard" with him. Of course there was still Sephiroth...That's a whole 'nother issue that I don't care to..divulge into at the moment.

What _did_ matter right now, though, was that I was currently being dragged over by Zack and Cloud to a spot in the middle of the floor.

"I can walk you know.." I reminded them. Thank God they stopped the singing. "What awful thing are you going to try to force me into now?"

Zack looked over at Cloud to answer for him.

"Well" Cloud started, taking the hint. "Zack decided that for his birthday, we have to listen to him."

"Okay.." I was following so far. But I had a sense of doom building up in my stomach.

"Well, While you were daydreaming to yourself, he decided what you should do for us."

"A PUPPET SHOW!" Called Demyx excitedly. I swear. I am in a room with a bunch of 8 year old girls. I really am.

There was no way I was about to play 'puppets' for Zack. I noticed Cloud snickering at me as he held up a crude sock puppet that vaguely resembled a squirrel. Was this some kind of revenge for our little car ride this morning?

As I was contemplating this, as well as the physically challenged 'squirrel,' I was wrestled to the ground. I need to stop getting so caught up in my thoughts. It gets me into all kinds of trouble.

To my horror, I looked down at my hand. Or what _should_ have been my hand, and was now 'Hazelnut the Squirrel', as Cloud was choking out through laughter.

This was so stupid.

"There is no damn way I am doing this. You guys need to grow the hell up."

Right as I moved to rip the disgusting sock creature from my hand, the bedroom door opened, and I found myself looking at a very amused Tseng.

Great.

Well Leon. Your life is so fucking ridiculous.

"IS HE HERE?" Zack cried out, breaking my self-degrading train of thought.

He? What?

"No. I haven't asked him yet." Came Tseng's response as he walked through the room, lookingscornfully around at all of us and the Karaoke machine.

Zack looked a mix between heartbroken and betrayed "But you said you would!"

I decided Zack was too oblivious to fill me in on his own, Tseng didn't care enough to, and the others looked just as confused as I felt, and asked for myself.

"Asked who?"

"Oh, haha, Nobo-" he was cut off by Tseng, who was clearly not in the mood to deal with dragging this out.

"He begged me to invited Sephiroth. And if he would listen, he would have heard that I said I "haven't asked him _yet._"

Zack looked over at me sheepishly. I knew he was, for all intensive purposes, enthralled with that asshole...But I didn't think he would sink so low as to beg his brother to invite him...

Oh Zack, if you could read my thoughts, you would know just how much I want to strangle you.


	4. Chapter 4

GeneralGayDisclaimer:

I do not own any of these characters. I do not own wal mart. I do not own crazy frog.

I do not own ANYTHING.

**Chapter 4**

**Clouds POV**

Well Damn.

This was an unexpected turn. Invited Sephiroth over? With _us_ here?

I decided to look around and see how everyone else was taking the news.

Demyx was just kind of sitting on the other side of the bed, not paying attention, making the sock puppets dance around while making creepy little 'ee!' noises. I shook my head slightly. Demyx was a card.

Zack looked a nice mixture of emotions. On one hand, he looked extremely excited at the prospect of having Sephiroth over..probably too excited.

On the other hand, he kept slipping into a nervous stance and glancing at Leon. Apparently I wasn't the only one who hadn't been informed.

Now Leon...Leon looked...well, the same as always, really. That kind of "Hey, I'm pissy, get the fuck away. By the way have you seen my shoes" look. Though I bet that if I could enter his brain, I would find myself in a thought-bubble shaped like a little battle dome, where a figment Leon was giving the thumbs-down and a figment Zack was getting brutally mauled by tigers.

Damn you, chapter 12 in the History book. You will forever haunt me. Never do as the Romans do..Never.

..Anyway. Enough of that.

"Rearranging your bookshelf, huh?" Leon said, obviously unhappy. He then smirked a little. "Oh well, it isn't like you didn't invi-" Leon was stopped short as Zack went into a Panicked spasm and made a distressed noise before throwing an arm around Tseng and guiding him out into the hallway. Okaaaay? What was that about?

"Zack is about to get his ass beat." Leon told me matter-o-factly. "He made a deal with Tseng where if he didn't invite Demyx over, Tseng would 'rearrange his book shelf.' which I suppose is Idiot for 'Invite Sephiroth over'"

I rolled my eyes. Talk about making deals with the devil.

"Strange though, Tseng didn't mention anything when he walked in about Demyx being here.."

Suddenly Zack burst in the door, and ran over to Demyx. "He didn't see you! Quick, get under the bed!"

"What? What are you do-" Demyx squealed as Zack began pushing him under the bed.

When he was finished, he stood up straight, looking proud of himself. Or he did, until he was hit in the face with a sock puppet thrown by a very unhappy looking Demyx.

"I'm sorry, just stay there long enough for my brother to call Seph, okay?"

What could be seen of Demyx eyes widened considerably.

"Why he is calling _him!"_

Jee Demyx, I think we got past this already. Pay attention. Maybe he needs Aderol...Okay, I KNOW he needs Aderol. Really, did sock puppets keep him _that_ distracted?

"Yea! I want him over for my birthday! I know you guys don't really like him...well..Leon, I know you _hate_ him, but come on. Don't you guys want to see me happy on my Birthday?" He added a pathetic pouty face for affect.

"But he is scary!" Demyx cried from the bed.

"Shhhhhhhhhh!" Zack shushed as Tseng walked into the room.

"Shh...ampagne is French for champagne." Zack finished 'smartly.'

"It's said the same." Tseng said, annoyed. "It _is_ French."

He made his way over to the bed, earning a gulp from Zack, and sat down on it. Demyx looked pretty frightened as well. But then his face changed to something much worse than fear. He smiled. I could basically _see_ those devious little wheels turning, as I was sure what he was thinking.

Yep. I was right. As Tseng picked up the phone from the night stand, Demyx deft little fingers began the classic "shoe strings tied together" number. I suppose that's something that results from years of playing the Sitar. Demyx probably has the most accurate finger coordination of anyone I've ever met. But damn, if it wasn't going to get him killed. And soon.

To the left of me I heard a struggled cough, and I looked and saw Zack, how had the single most horrified expression I have ever seen. I looked over at Leon, who was just willing Demyx on, dying for Tseng to bust his ass. The room was completely silent.

Tseng looked at us strangely as he put the phone to his ear. Clearly, we were too quite.

He was about to comment when someone on the other line picked up, and screamed something that vaguely sounded like "tomagachi giga-pet whirlpool."

Tseng closed his eyes and mouthed something that suspiciously resembled 'fuck.'

"Hello Xemnas. I need you to do me a favor, okay?" He didn't give 'Xemnas' a chance to reply, which is probably for the best, considering his phone greeting, and continued. "I need you to bring the phone to Sephiroth. You remember him, right?" he said slowly.

I threw Zack a very confused glance.

"Seph lives with his Uncle. Xemnas is his cousin...he is also quite the crack addict. Like really, he has come to school with it still on his nose before." Zack whispered to me.

What the hell! Sephiroth lives with crack heads?

"No Xemnas. I do not want to talk to the VCR player. Please give the phone to Sephiroth."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes. I'll buy you pizza. Yes. Thank you. Good Bye Xemnas... Hey Seph..

Yes, I hate him too...No...No...Actaully, I have been put into a situation. Tonight is Zack's

birth-- yes. The idiot...anyway. We made a deal. I need you to come over and spend the ni-"

A strange noise was heard through the phone, followed by a yell and a shattering noise. Tseng looked down at the phone, but it to his ear, and then looked at It again. "Connection was lost. Sorry Zack, I tried." He didn't sound that sorry.

Just then the phone rang and Zack snatched it out of Tseng's hand.

"Hello?"

His face brightened considerably.

"No, Tseng isn't here, he is in the bathroom, can I take a message?"

He was grinning like a fiend at Tseng, who was looking at him disdainfully.

"I'll tell him, see ya soon Babe!" He added cheesily and hung up. I didn't have to turn around to see Leon rolling his eyes and yet again releasing the tigers in his head.

Zack looked at Tseng smugly.

"Oh good, you're out of the bathroom. Anyway, you'll never guess who called."

"Not the faintest idea Zack. Please. Enlighten me." Tseng said unenthusiastically. I guess humoring him was faster than arguing. Zack looked pleased.

"It was Sephiroth. He said that Xemnas thought the phone line was an angry serpent of hell, and forced it to repent by decap..deca.."

"Decapitating?" A voice from under the bed supplied him.

"Yea!..." His face turned to one of those scrunched up 'this is going to hurt' and he turned to look at Tseng.

"What was that.." Tseng said calmly. That kind of calm that you knew you couldn't trust. The kind of calm that wanted to turn into a dragon and eat you...sorry. Got a little caught-up there.

Zack's silence obviously wasn't the correct answer. Tseng stood from the bed and moved to assault his brother.

As they say

..Big tree fall hard.

Yes, that's right. The always cool, always composed, always perfect Tseng.. just did face plant.

I looked around the room I noticed the mixed reactions of the other people.

Demyx was giggling and looking mighty proud of himself, as he was pulling himself out from under the bed. Leon was barely containing a fit of laughter, which was very un-Leonish of him. But I suppose this was a special occasion. It wasn't everyday Tseng fell from grace. And Zack, Zack looked 12 shades of death. He looked nauseous. Yet somewhere in his brain, I know he was appreciating this for what it was, and was laughing deep down.

I was kind of a combination of all 3.

I was proud of Demyx for pulling one over Tseng, deeply humored by Tseng's fall, and afraid for what was going to happen once Tseng regained his composure. What an interesting night this was.

Slowly, with more dignity than I thought a man could muster have such an incident, Tseng pulled himself from the floor.

He began quietly, with an emotionless face,

"For the time being, I am going to ignore this. I am going to ignore the fact that you have blatantly lied about inviting Demyx, I am going to ignore that the aforementioned boy tripped me, and I am going to ignore the that I have the overpowering desire to pull the gun out of Father's closet and blow you all the hell away." He nodded to himself, Zack wincing with each statement. "Now Zack, if you would kindly finish relaying the message."

Zack nodded, unsure of his safety and the honesty in Tseng's statement.

"Xemnas thought the phone line was a snake and ripped it out of the wall...Sephiroth called back on another phone and said that he was not in the mood to deal with his idiotic family and that he was on his way over here."

Zack was struggling to keep the smile off of his face at the thought of Sephiroth coming over.

He looked at Tseng expectantly.

"No."

Zack's face faltered a little. "What? He said he was coming over."

"No." Tseng repeated. "You lied, so he isn't coming over."

"Well it seems like it's kinda too late.." I interjected. "He said he was on his way."

Tseng glared at me, making me wish I hadn't said anything. Leon was just now recovering from his amusement at Tseng's fall.

Tseng maintained silence as he calmly untied his shoes and removed them. He walked over to the closet as I all but leaped out of his way, as not to block him. I really didn't feel like making him angrier than he already was.

After he placed his shoes neatly in his closet, he paced back over to the bed and began fixing any wrinkles that had been placed in it, before sitting down on it once more.

What a clean freak.

Beds aren't meant to look perfect. Beds are wonderful creatures. The messier and more wrinkled and covered unevenly with blankets they are, the better.

..I miss my bed...

Awkward silence overtook the room as everyone just stared at one another. It remained this way for about 2 minutes, before Demyx began to shuffle his feat, desperate for some noise to be made. However, this was put to a halt as Tseng sent him a glare. Demyx was relieved when the eyes were removed from him. He sighed when suddenly his cell phone began ringing, breaking our newly unwritten rule of complete silence.

For the record. Demyx didn't have a regular nice little "please answer your phone" ring tone. No No. He had that damn Crazy Frog ring tone. That one that everyone hates because it is so annoying, and yet downloads at least one time in their life or another. He frantically patted himself down until he picked the right pocket and flipped it open and said 'Hello' as fast as he could.

"DEMMMYYYX!" Screamed the person over the phone, loud enough for the dead to hear. Demyx fidgeted, unbelievably nervous from the scrutiny from Tseng.

"Hey Axel.." He said quietly.

"IM REALLY REEEEALY DRUNK" Axel informed the Earth's population.

"That's wonderful Axel, I have to go-"

"COME GET DRUNK WITH ME"

"I can't, I'm at–" He looked over at Zack who was motioning "No" like crazy. If Axel caught wind of another party, he would be here in a heartbeat. God knows we did _not_ need a crazy drunk guy right now.

"I'm having dinner at..WalMart.."

..Walmart?

"WELL WHEN YOUR DONE, COME OVER HERE. WE'RE ALL AT MY HOUSE."

He shouted again. Jesus Christ, despite his thin figure, Axel must have massive lungs.

"All right Axel, I'll see you then..." Demyx hurriedly closed his phone and looked sheepish.

"Sorry about that."

Tseng just nodded his head calmly as he stood and walked out of the room. A pair of headlights shone through the window. I guess Sephiroth was here. Well, here starts possibly the strangest night of my life.

"What are you doing!" I heard Leon grunt. I looked over and saw that Zack was on his knees in front of him, grasping Leon's hands in his own.

"I am begging you LeeLee. I am BEGGING you. Please please please please try not to fight with Seph. PLEASE? Tryyyyy to get along. Or ignore him all together. PLEEEEASE!"

"That's very dignified of you, Zack" I said through an amused snicker. He sent me a look out of the corner of his eyes before returning his attention to Leon. "I'll do anything. I'll wash your car, I'll buy you candy, I'll nurse your children." Leon snatched his hands away from Zack, disgusted. We all gave Zack a strange look.

"Okay so I can't nurse your children! JUST PLEASE SO THIS FOR ME."

Before Leon could answer, Tseng re-entered the room, this time with Sephiroth behind him.

Zack ripped his eyes away from Leon to stare embarrassingly at him. Seriously, Zack needs to learn some self control. Or at least be _discrete _about it. But this was Zack we were talking about.

Sephiroth turned and looked at Zack, then at Tseng, then back to Zack.

"Happy Birthday Zack."

I think my jaw just hit the floor. I would ask Zack if it had, but he looked a bit to dreamy to think.

"Reeallly?" Zack asked.

"No." Sephiroth answered, as Tseng smirked and Zack pouted.

---

After about an hour or two of strained conversation, 3 would have been fights, several stupid remarks, countless bad pick up lines, and Sephiroth shrugging off any advances from Zack, Zack finally broke.

"Okay. I have been patient. I have been nice, I have been everything a birthday boy should be."

He looked around at all of us. "It's 12 am. And I have not gotten to rip open a single present.

What.. _The Hell_." He paused looking thoughtful for a moment, before sliding up beside Sephiroth and slinking a hand around his waist.

Oh Man. Zack was a glutton for pain.

"Not that your presence isn't a gift in it's self, you sexy little nymph."

Oh yea, a complete glutton.

Sephiroth was about to say, or probably harm, something before Tseng smacked Zack on the head and ripped him off of Seph.

"Stop hitting on my friend. It disturbs the hell out of me. Your presents are on the coffee table."

Zack looked both hurt, and filled with glee. "YESSS!"

As we were dragged out of the room, the door slammed shut behind us.

I heard a chuckle through the door.

"We're going to bed. You guys have fun sleeping in the living room." Tseng called.

Zack tried to open the door only to find it locked. "THIS ISN'T FAIR TSENG. Mark my words, oh evil brother of mine! Mark my words! I will have my revenge!"

"That's nice, Zack." was his only answer.

Zack stared at the door a little before turning to the rest of us.

"TIME FOR GIFTS!" He yelled before running into the livingroom.

"Well he recovered fast" I commented to Leon and Demyx.

"I get the couch." Was Leon's reply as he made his way after Zack.

"I get the recliner!" Demyx said as he took off to the room as well.

Damn..wait. "You can't call things! This isn't even your house!" I cried after them.

I heard Leon answer from the livingroom "I'm already on it. Now hurry up and get in here to watch your friend open these horribly wrapped gifts before he cries."

I trudged my way in to see Zack lunging for his pile of gifts.

He looked at them all, trying to chose which one to open first. After 45 seconds and still no decision, Leon decided to step in.

"Here, this one first" he said, as he handed Zack the monstrosity that Demyx had gotten him.

Zack wasted no time ripping into the post-it note coated box. He peered into it and a confused look crossed his face. Demxy grinned triumphantly. "I remembered you said you wanted one 10 years ago!"...That's creepy. Not that Zack has advanced much mentally in ten years, but still.

"Is this..." Zack's eyes got wide as he removed this relic of a gift from the box. "IT IS!"

..You have got to be kidding me..

No. You have _got_ to be _fucking_ kidding me.

"An E-Z-Bake Oven!" Leon asked, perplexed and frightened.

Zack only nodded in awe, before setting the toy oven gingerly down on the table, and standing up from the couch and engulfing Demyx in a huge hug.

"Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, Zacky!" Demyx said happily, pleased that he has made a good decision.

Zack sat back down on the couch and Leon handed him his next present.

"This one is from me" he said.

Zack grinned as he opened it fiercely.

"HOT WHEELS?"

The room was filled with silence at the blank look on Zack's face. Maybe Leon didn't make the right choice...Damn, and I put my name on it, too, when he wasn't looking.

Slowly, Zack looked around before ripping open the box of hot wheels and began to set up the track. "I'm the Tide Car!" he yelled. Zack was such a...a kid. Oh well, I guess that's why we loved him.

"Hold on, Dale Earnheart Jr. Open the rest first."

Zack pouted slightly before obeying and accepting the next gift Leon handed him.

"This one is from Cloud" Zack informed us, reading the card attached to it. He tossed me a grin before opening it.

He's going to hate it...

"A Journal?" he asked.

He hates it!

"yea.." I said meekly.

"Aw! THANKS CLOUD!" Now I can write about my ever so amazing life every night before I go to bed!" He set the journal down on top of the E-Z-Bake and took another gift.

"This one is from Mom and Dad."

He read the card, rolling his eyes and smiling. "They love me."

He proceeded to open the gift.

"WHAT? I TAKE IT BACK. THEY DON'T LOVE ME AT ALL. WHAT THE HELL!"

He ripped out the obviously enraging object and showed it to us.

HA!. I promptly fell over laughing.

"An ACT study disk! NO! WHAT KIND OF GIFT IS THAT!"

Leon pried the disk out of his hand. "Maybe they are trying to tell you something, Zack." he said, as the disgruntled Zack swiped up the next gift.

"..I can't read this.." he said, staring at the squiggly handwriting.

"It's from your Grammie and Gampie!" chirped Demyx, who could some how read the writing.

"Oh! Well _they_ love me. _They _won't let me down." Zack said hopefully, as he opened the package covered in UPS stamps.

"SOCKS!" Demyx said as Zack pulled several pairs of socks out of the oversized envelope/package hybrid.

Zack grinned as he tossed each of us a pair of multicolored, thick slipper socks.

"Everyone put on the birthday socks!" He said as he began working is own over his feet.

I smiled to myself as I removed my shoes and put on my florescent green socks.

Surprisingly, even Leon put his on too. I never thought I would see him in turquoise, that's for sure.. Demyx got a neon yellow pair, and Zack's were purple.

"Last present" I informed him after everyone got their feet nice and socked up.

I hesitantly glanced at the tag. "It's from Tseng."

Zack shared my expression as he opened the card attached to a box. He read it aloud.

"_Dear Zack,_

_I do hope you enjoy this gift. Sephiroth and I drove all the way downtown _

_to pick it out._

_Love, Tseng"_

He set the card down looking excited. "There are lots of neat stores down town...I wonder what it is!" He picked up the box. It was extremely heavy.

He ripped it open and glanced down.

Down into a box packed to the brim with gravel. Atop of the gravel was a note that said

"_Courtesy of the Down Town Construction Agency."_

Zack looked pretty depressed until he flipped the note over and saw the words

"_Your real gift is in my jacket pocket. Jackets hanging on the back of the couch. Take anything more than that envelope, and I'll rip out every bone in your body through your left ear."_

With a brief paranoid glance at the card, he reached over to the jacket that he had been resting his head on and pulled an envelope from the pocket.

He hastily opened it, probably praying that It wouldn't contain a leaf or something.

"200 DOLLARS!" He exclaimed excitedly.

He slid the money into a page in the journal I got him before yelling out his thanks.

"THANK YOU TSENG! AND THANK YOU SEPHIROTH FOR HELPING MY BROTHER WITH ALL THOSE ROCKS. THAT WAS REALLY SWEET OF YOU. IN FACT. WITH THIS MONEY, I WAS WONDERING IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET LUNCH SOMETIME."

"SHUT UP ZACK." Was all that was heard, and Zack smiled.

"I'm just the greatest. Thank you guys for everything!"

We all said our 'you're welcomes' to Zack and decided it was about time to go to sleep. Unfortunately we all had to be at school the next day. It had taken about 2 hours of convincing my mom to let me stay over on a school night.

It was 12:30 and we all had to be up in 5 hours. I _need_ my 8 hours. I am so doomed.

After about 15 minutes of heated rock papers scissors matches, the sleeping order was decided.

Leon got the couch, like he wanted (lucky bastard), Zack got the over stuffed chair, I got the recliner, and Demyx got the floor. Poor Demyx.

We exchanged our good nights, turned out the lights, and settled down for sleep.

I was just about to fall asleep when heard Zack's voice ask,

"Do you think Sephiroth is using my pillow? I wonder if he will drool on it..that would be so

hot-"

I heard a thud noise as presumably Leon threw a pillow at Zack, before stating loudly. "Good Night, Zack."

---

End Chapter!

This one is a lot longer than the other ones, haha.

Like it? Hate it?


	5. Chapter 5

Disssssclaimer-

I own nothing.

You probably own nothing.

I'm glad we have that in common.

_**Chapter 5**_

Leon's POV

Well. It's time for another delightful day of school. Yea right. God dammit. I'm too tired for this. How am I supposed to conquer the quadratic formula of the Isosceles time bomb x and y and graph it on two hours of sleep? I'm usually not one for self doubt, but today is my exception.

I suppose I was asking for it though, spending the night at Zack's house and all. It wasn't enough that we didn't get to bed until 1:30, but Zack had to wake us all up at 4 am.

He is so strange. I guess he woke up and decided "Hey, I want to do something really stupid and potentially life threatening today." That idiot. He's lucky to be alive.

As for what happened, all I know is that I was asleep, and for whatever reason dreaming about having and interview with Diane Sawyer, when I heard the crashing. I jumped up to see Zack running for his life and grinning like a fiend, with two very angry men following behind.

Apparently Zack thought it would be a good idea to use a coat hanger and break into his own room. After who knows how long of working on that, he made it in. From what I understand, Zack slipped over to the bed, and God only knows how fast me must have done this, but he slapped a nice big kiss on Sephiroth and snapped a picture. All of my extreme distaste for man aside, What the hell?

I don't think Cloud ever laughed so hard in his life. Sephiroth looked on the verge of murder as he stormed around the house looking for Zack, making various descriptive threats along the way. Zack is lucky he found such a good hiding spot, because there is not a doubt in my mind that if he had been found..Well. There would be two very sad parents standing over one very mangled body the next morning, as well as a very interesting newspaper article for the rest of us.

The look on Tseng's face was priceless. He looked both angry and unbelievably ashamed and appalled at the same time. Plus you count that whole "just abruptly awakened by my brother kissing my very violent friend" groggy thing that he had going on.

Demyx really missed it. He slept through the whole thing. I don't know how, since I am almost positive that Zack stepped on him during his pathetic escape attempt. Oh well, I almost envy him. If it weren't excellent to know that I knew something that could embarrass Sephiroth, I would have loved to never have know wha–

"Mr. Leonhart"

The voice snapped me from my thoughts. I looked up to see my impatient looking math teacher. I guess she had been trying to get my attention. Shit.

"Squall," she started. A few students laughed when she used my first name. A well aimed look in a few directions fixed that. "If you would be so kind as to open your book and pay attention, please."

I rolled my eyes and muttered a half-assed apology as I opened my book.

And then the vulture rounded her eyes on another victim. I wonder who this time.

"And Mr. Strife!" she screeched. I looked to my left to see Cloud passed out cold on his desk. It was kind of sad really, just how peaceful he looked there, drooling shamelessly on page 168. I almost pitied the next person that had to use that book.

"..Mr. Strife.." the Math Demon drawled out again, this time a 'tad bit' less patiently. Bitch. Can't she see he's sleeping? Poor kid.

She turned to her desk and being to scribble something down, and I took my opportunity to help him out a little. I reached over and nudged him until he cracked a very sleep deprived eye lid to glare me.

"I was _asleep._"he hissed out. This is what I get for helping.

"So we noticed." Came the cold voice of, for all intensive purposes; Satan. "If you would please refrain from doing so in my class again, I would greatly appreciate it."

She walked over to him again and slid a referral onto his desk.

Cloud studied it for a moment, emotionlessly, before glancing up at the Math Beast. He seemed to stare at her blankly for a few moments, before dropping his head back onto his desk and re-entering his comatose state.

Lucifer's Bride just glared at his head, realizing the true hopelessness of the situation, and carried on with class. But not without tossing angry looks his way once in a while. For good measure, you know.

Zack's POV

All right! It's lunch time! Well, in two minutes, anyway. Oh come on. I'm hungry. And I'm sick of Health class.

Why do I even _need _Health class! Do they even know me? Besides, what is there to learn here that my mother hasn't already told me?

Carrots- Good.

Candy- Not good.

Can I have my 'A' now?

15 Seconds. Come on come on. I watched the teacher, willing him to announce lunch time, ready to leap from my seat. Come on Baby, say the words and I'm gone. In that roach infested, grease drenched cafeteria, there is a slice of Pizza just dying to be devoured... Except It's Monday. Damn. Pizza Day isn't until Thursday. Today is...Assorted Sandwich Day. Oh well. Life is what you make it. And I'm thinkin' of makin' it Ham on Rye.

"All right class, it's time for lunch. I'll see you back in–"

And I'm out the door.

I wonder what Cloud brought for lunch today. I hope he has pudding. That way I can win it off of him in some stupid bet, 'cause I'm so damn good like that. Also because Cloud's just easy to trick.

Speaking of 'so damn good..' Who kissed _the _Sephiroth last night?

I did.

Yes, and _where_ was he when I kissed him last night?

Oh yea. In my bed.

I am so going to ignore that my brother was in the room happened. I am also going to ignore that I had to run and hide for my life like a small child runs from Wolf-Man...An incredibly sexy Wolf-Man..the kind of Wolf-Man who you really wouldn't mind if he wanted to eat your up...

God I can't wait to get that film developed.

By now I've made it to the Cafeteria. Now let's see..Where's Cloud, Where's Cloud.. He's always the easiest to find in a crowd, with that hair of his...unless that crowd is standing up..Cloud is pretty short. If this is the case, you switch from looking for Cloud with his blonde hair, to looking for Leon with his habit of cussing people out for brushing up against him.

Found him.

I make my way through a sea of highschool students toward his table, swiping a chicken nugget here and a french fry there along the way. It's not like they'll miss it. Oh the benefits of being beloved by all. And I'm sexy as hell. Can't forget that.

"Miss me?" I ask my wonderful friend playfully as I slide into my side of the booth. We always get a booth, because we're damn cool like that. And because Leon will probably beat you out of it if you try and take it.

Cloud rolled his eyes at me. "Terribly so."

Ain't he cute when he humors me? Oh! He has gummy bears today!

"Oh, you'll never guess what we got Leon to do..." he began to inform me. I pretend to listen as I focus my attention on sneaking my hand over to the bag of candy. Fuck you, Health Class. I eat what I want.

Almost there.

You are stealth, Zack, you are like the wind. My finger brushes the squishy bear shaped treat. I can practically taste it. I'm about to snatch the bag away and laugh victoriously when the bag is slip suspiciously about a foot out of my reach. I looked up onto the eyes of the cruel soul who dared to foil my devious plans.

"Hey Leon" Cloud greets him as he sits down beside him, and across from me.

Leon nods to him as he returns the bag of gummy bears. Well isn't he noble. Traitor.

"Hey guys!" the unmistakable voice of Demyx called out. "You ready?"

Ready for what? Hmm...Who cares. All that matters is that Demyx just sat down beside me and he has a Whole. Bag. Of Oreos.

Food Theft: Attempt Two: Commence

Though this time, much less subtlety.

"I'm taking some of these." I informed him as I reached to grab a handful. Yet again Leon crushed my schemes by swatting my hand away. What is his problem? Is he the Lunch Room Avenger now or something? Justice for every Morsel?

"Ask." Came his only response to my confused look. He seems angry. I wonder why. I would have asked, but Demyx handed me a handful or Oreos with a smile. The boy is a saint.

I stuck my tongue out at Leon before beginning the meticulous process of twisting the oreos apart. You had to do it just right, or the creme would come off all on one side instead of evenly on both. If it is only on one side, then you are left with half of a plain not-so-wonderful cookie. And that's no good.

"So Leon!" Demyx started through his chewing of oreos, sputtering crumbs all over the place. "I hear you are helping us and our Recycling project today!"

Leon shot a dirty look at a smiling Cloud.

"He is if he wants a ride home." Cloud said, cheekily. He sure is a sneaky one. Recycling, huh? Never saw Leon much of that type. I'm sure he never didn't either. Cloud looked happy though. Which reminded me of something.

I reached into my bag and pulled out my lunch. I grinned as Cloud looked at me and his smile dropped.

"Ham sandwich?" I asked innocently, holding the sandwich out to him while making silent 'oink's in the back of my throat. He looked at me distastefully and I was about to pull it back and take a bite when Demyx swiped it and looked at it sadly.

"You can't do this, Zack. This is wrong."

Oh God. Here comes on of the many speeches. I can never make it through these without laughing. He removed the top piece of bread from my sandwich to look at the wonderfully thin-sliced ham.

"Imagine that poor little Piggie, Zack. He had a life, dreams...He was meant for so much more that...than _processed sandwich meat_." He spat out the last word as though they were poison. Poison is a funny band with really funny hair..

He was right though. That piggie was meant for better things.

"Like Bacon?" I asked.

He gave me a look before passing my sandwich over to Cloud, who proceeded to pick off the ham and throw it away. I guess he had been closer to the trash can. Wasn't this wasteful? I was going to eat that!

"That was my lunch!"

Demyx smiled at me. "It still is your lunch." He said as the sandwich was returned to me. If you could even call it a sandwich. More like two pieces of bread with some blotches of uneven mayo. Oh well. At least they didn't spread tou-fou on it this time.

"So anyway." Cloud began, giving Leon a pleased look. "Aren't you excited about helping us today?"

"No. But every time you ask me that, I'm going to kill a Sea Otter."

Wow man, that was harsh.

I choked at the look of outrage that crossed over both of the little Earth-Freaks' faces before they brushed him off. Who could kill a sea otter? They're so cute!

Sometimes I think Cloud isn't as "save the earth" as he puts on. He probably just does it to get on Leon's nerves.

I was about to comment about pouring gasoline into the ocean when something to the left of me caught my eye. Well if it weren't the physical embodiment of Sex Himself. And if Sex wasn't glaring at me like there was no tomorrow, then...Hey! He's looking at me! Meaning he is acknowledging me! I think he's in love.

He looked at me like I was the scum of the Earth for a bit longer, before my cuteness was too much for him to handle, and he turned his head and walked on.

"Give up, Zack. If he didn't like you before this morning, he definitely hates you now." Cloud felt obligated to inform me. So cruel..

"Are you kidding me?" I asked him incrediously. "He wanted nothing more than to sashay his way over to me. Then he would bend over slowly, give me a sly look, and sexily crawl into my lap. As he straddled me he would lean in and lick my ear. Then he wou-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH ZACK." It was like a race to see which of the three of them could say it first. God. Oh well, They're just jealous because my sexual fantasies are sooo much hotter than theirs. I mean really. I'm so close to having Seph admit that he's in love with me, that my dreams –my steamy, raunchy, fucking perfect dreams– could become reality any day now.

"He's not in love with you" Cloud said matter-a-factly without sparing me a glance. Cloud always had the uncanny ability to read my thoughts, then turn around and crush them. That or I was just predictable and thought about that too much.

I was about to tell Cloud just how wrong he was when the bell rang. Great...Back to Health class. I hate having lunch in the middle of a class period.

Oh well. After this was English. Not only was it taught by the single most amazing, best, coolest teacher ever, but I also had it with my living fantasy. I love English.

And if One were to remove the 'n' and 'r' and add a 'p, o, a, t, h' and strategically rearrange them, One would get "Sephiroth". I'm not as obsessed as I sound. I just don't apply myself in class...And maybe I'm a teeny bit obsessed.

God, I don't want to go to Health...

I stood stiffly and threw away the bag that had contained my at-one-time Ham sandwich.

"I'll see you guys after school!" I waved good-bye and began my way back to class. Or maybe I could 'get sick' and spend the rest of the period 'resting' in the nurse's office. The nurse likes me, so it would be easy.

Health Class, Or Nap Time...

Does anyone see a dilemma here? Because I don't. I redirected myself to the Nurse's office and was on my merry way.

Wow...this chapter was really slow, and really sucky.


	6. Chapter 6

Dissssclaimer!

I don't own any of the characters and stuff, as you might have guessed.

---------------------------

Zack's POV

"All right, yo. Sit down and shut-up. Today the big-heads are gonna observe our class for a bit to make sure I'm actually teachin' your kiddies somethin. So we are gonna have to suck it up and pretend to learn something for one day." The young red-headed English teacher said casually.

What? Learn something? In this class? No way!

"But Mr. Reno!" came the mock-distressed voice of a boy with hair that rivaled the teachers. "Do you even know _how_ to teach?"

This got a few snickers from around the class room.

"Yes Axel. I do. I went to teacher school and all that stuff" he said with a wave of his hand. "Now be a good little high school fuck up and be quiet." Reno's face wore and undeniable smirk as he said it. "Besides, you shouldn't talk to your father that way."

Axel's eyes narrowed on our sad excuse for an educational advisor. Reno was more like that Uncle that noone in you family talked about, rather than your teacher anyway.

"You are _not_ my dad!"

Ever since the beginning of 12th grade year when we were introduced to Mr. Reno and his style of 'teaching,' Axel had been fighting off countless rumors that he was related to Reno. Reno, of course, seemed to enjoy these rumors and how they seemed to agitate his wired little look-a-like student.

"Hey, yo, just because your mom never told you 'bout me, don't mean-" Reno promptly shut his mouth as the classroom door cracked open. I wonder which administrator will be sitting in today. I hope it isn't Dean Rude. That guy is weird. He doesn't like me much, either. Probably because I mentioned to him that his head reminded me of an angry lightbulb. I got a week of detention for that one. As the figure in the door way stepped in, I felt my smile waver a little. Not her...

"Please, don't let me interrupt, Mr Reno, continue." It was our Principal. That lady seriously freaks me, and most everyone else, out. Her voice makes your skin crawl.

"Yes Ma'am, Princ'pl Larxene." Reno said with a brief salute. He wasn't meant for formalities. It just doesn't fit him. Oh well, can't blame him for trying. The school board has been trying to get him fired since he started teaching this year.

I think Axel was right, maybe Reno _doesn't_ know how to teach. He was just kind of standing there, pretending to search for a page in his teachers' book.

"Well Class...Today we are going to talk abo–Discuss..." he paused and opened his book to a random page. Some of the students laughed a little. This was horrible! What if he got fired? And we got an actual teacher! I love Mr. Reno!

"Sonnets." he threw out casually, as though he hadn't just been racking his brain, desperate for a topic.

What was that? A sonnet? Wasn't that a hat? Or a brand of butter? Oh well. All that matters is that Reno seems to have gotten his career out of direct jeopardy. Now I could continue with my average English activities. Turning slightly in my seat I looked over to my left. Just two seats away from me sat Sephiroth. I couldn't get too lucky, of course, as Rufus was seated between us.

Rufus...now Rufus was a character. He could be a nice guy, he just tended not to be. He was fairly shy and stiff, and only had a few friends. Most people figured this was because he thought he was too good for most people. He had the reputation for being a rich boy, so a lot of kids assumed him to be a spoiled little jerk. After being used being treated that way, I guess Rufus decided to save himself some trouble and take on the part.

He seemed to like me okay, which was surprising. After all, I was good friends with Leon, and it was a well known fact that Rufus and Leon did not get along. Despite that, like I said, Rufus and I got along all right. It probably had something to do with him being friends with my brother for so long, so I was 'okay' by association. Since I met him before all the drama of highschool and Leon. Hey, I wasn't going to argue. If someone wanted to be my friend, who was I to say no?

"Hey Rufus, how you liking this new English class?" I asked him with a smile. He turned and looked at me, and shook his head a little. He didn't look very happy. I guess he heard about what happened last night. He, my brother, and Sephiroth were all pretty close friends. The Triangle of Terror, if you will. Mess with one, you mess with all of them. And mess with all of them, and you will probably die.

"Aw, come on Ruf, don't be mad. I'll give you a copy of the picture!" I whispered loud enough for Sephiroth to overhear. I wasn't counting on a reaction, since Seph had more or less made had a nasty habit of ignoring me entirely, and I was pleasantly surprised when I was met my a pair of angry green cat eyes.

I gave him my best smile as he stared at me hatefully. God, he's hot when he's pissed. Which is always.

"Want a copy, too?" I asked him. I'm sure he would love to remember a moment as magical as that one. "Wouldn't want to forget a moment as monumental as our first kiss!"

I won't lie. I knew what was coming. But I was excited anyway.

I watched as he cut his eyes over to the Principal who was just walking out of the door, over to Reno who was starting an argument about Axel's ability to read, and back over to me. He gave me a sly look as he rose from his chair and slid between Rufus and the desk behind him and stopped when he stood before me.

He smells nice. Like shampoo. I wonder what kind he uses. And how much...

He looked down at me with one eye brow raised before placing a hand on my desk and leaning down to my level.

His face was a few inches from mind, and I could smell his breath. I was about to wonder what toothpaste he uses when he parted those lovely, thin lips and spoke to me.

"You are going to give me those pictures." he stated, voice devoid of any emotion.

"Can't do that, Seph. Sorry man, I don't have them yet. I'm sure they'll turn out great though."

Oh lean a little closer...come on...I can't believe he is this close to me. This was the stuff of dreams, right here..that is, if you ignored the fact that I was pretty sure he was about to hit me. I'll never know for sure if he would have or not, because next thing I knew, Sephiroth was shoved toward me, and his knees hit the ground and his face and hands in my lap.

Oh. My. God.

The whole class froze instantly, dead silence.

Noone, **noone**. Had ever shoved _Sephiroth_ before. Nobody was that stupid.

Astonished, I ripped my eyes away from the gorgeous man in my lap up into the eyes of a terrified blonde boy. I had seen him around before, he was an office assistant who brought slips to the classrooms and stuff. I think his name was Roxas.

Before I could say anything, I felt, yes _felt_ a growl coming from the God in my lap. Slowly he brought himself back up to his full height, looking more menacing than I had seen him look in a long time, as he turned to face Roxas.

"Uh...Sorry...I didn't mean to, but you wouldn't answer when I called your name...I didn't mean to push so ha..." Roxas silenced himself and began backing away toward the front of the class room. Scowling, Sephiroth followed him towards the teachers desk, cold green eyes never leaving Roxas' startled ones.

What were we going to do? I didn't know the kid, but Roxas looked like a nice boy...He was too young to die or be horribly mauled, I knew that much.

Sephiroth was about 3 feet away from Roxas when a lanky red head slipped himself in between the two.

"Don't mess with Roxas, got it memorized?" Came the arrogant voice or Axel, chin held high, standing protectively before the young blonde. Sephiroth glared at the taller boy.

Axel was a pretty fearless guy, but even so, you just can't hold that gaze for long. He shuffled a little before looking back at Seph. "Look man. He didn't mean anything."

"Really." Came Sephiroth's voice, oozing with indifference to Axel's argument.

Reno, who was more than used to dealing with these kind of things, stepped around his desk, wanted to avoid a bloody fight if possible. He took the slip of paper Roxas had been sent to deliver and handed to it Sephiroth.

"Here, yo. Take your slip. Says you gotta check out."

Sephiroth stared down the two boys for a moment longer before smirking, satisfied by the discomfort he managed to cause, before taking the paper and making his way out of the classroom.

After Sephiroth left the room, Reno turned to Roxas. "You almost died, yo. If I was you, I wouldn't deliver to this class no more."

Roxas looked at him a little funny before replying "You're an English teacher! Your grammar is atrocious!"

Reno rolled his eyes, "Yea, the Princ'pl just finished tellin me that. Look, you might wanna hang in here for a while, 'til it's safe to say Sephiroth's off campus. Don't want you getting massacred in the hallways, yo." he then turned to the rest of the class.

"Speaking of our wonderful principal, she has been so kind as to tell me that if I don't assign you punks a major project, my ass is out."

Oh no. You can't be serious. Work! In this class? No...

Several of the students moaned their disapproval.

"I know I know. You don't wanna do it anymore than I wanna grade it. But unless you want me ta get canned, you gotta." Reno looked around, knowing that noone here wanted to see him go.

"It won't be too bad. 'Sides, I'll let you guys have partners."

I almost broke my leg as I jumped out of my seat. "I CALL SEPHIROTH!"

Reno looked at me and laughed a little. "All right, man. Calm down. Zack and 'Roth. Got it." he said as he wrote it down.

I looked over to my left to see Rufus, who was glaring at me. I felt kind of guilty, since Seph was Rufus' only friend in this class. I can't say I had that problem, but I'd be damned if I let this perfect opportunity slip away.

"Who else?" Reno asked, looking around.

"Can I work with Roxas?" Axel asked. Reno looked at him skeptically. "He isn't in this class."

Reno still looked hopeful. "So? I worked with Demyx on a project before, and we weren't in the same class." Reno rolled his eyes. "Demyx is at least in the same grade. Roxas is a grade below you." Axel looked depressed as his shoulders shrugged. "Who am I supposed to work with then? Noone else here can handle my superior intellect."

Reno scoffed at him, and glanced around the room as he searched for someone who hadn't already been paired up. "Ah, There you go. Axel, you can work with Shinra."

Axel looked at Reno, shocked. "You want me to work with Rufus?"

Reno wrote it down in his book "Yep. And I wrote it in pen, which means no eraser, So too late. There wasn't a problem was there?"

Oh God. This was rich. Rufus and Axel, stuck together with a project? Axel the hyperactive, wild, party crazed lunatic, and Rufus, the refined, quiet, dignified, above-you rich kid. A match made in hell.

I looked over at Rufus, who had just folded his arms and laid his head down on the desk. I kind of felt sorry for him, because I knew Axel was going to give him a hard time. Rufus was everybody's victim. He had an air about him that brought out the inner-bully in most people. Things never tended to get too out of hand of course, since he had Sephiroth and my brother to keep people in line.

Reno was passing out the papers for the project as Axel kept arguing with him.

"Come on man, Goddamn! I can't work with him! He probably won't even talk to me! I can't work with someone that boring. Let me work with Roxy. Pleeease."

Reno wagged his finger at him. "Cut it, yo. Papa knows best."

Axel rolled his eyes and sighed, exasperated, "You are not my dad!"

He hunched his shoulders, ignoring Reno's taunting laughter as he made his way back to his desk, bringing Roxas with him.

So me and Seph are going to be partners. Mother. Effing. Yes. Just wait until he finds out.

I wonder why he had to leave..

---

"You checked me out of school for this?" Sephiroth asked his uncle incrediously. Ansem ignored his nephew's comment and continued working on the door. "Just help me get the door off the hinges. Your cousin did acid again, now he thinks that anything with a face wants to sell him into the foreign slave trade. He locked himself in his room and I'm afraid he may have passed out." Ansem banged on the door several times while yelling "Xemnas! Get your Stoner Ass up and open this door!"

Sephiroth closed his eyes and brought his hand up and covered his eyes. He shook his head and walked away. He needed to get out of this house. Ignoring his uncle calling for him to help him with the door, he made his way out of his house to visit Tseng.

-------------------

again, I'm sorry for the slowness. I think im retarded when it comes to the 'in school' scenes. review and tell me what you thing...or not, you know, whatever. At least I know SOMEONE out there cares!

Rios Masquerade, I love you, seriously.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer

yada yada, I own nothing. No characters, no placing of business: respectable or not. No nothing.

A/N: SORRY IT TOOK TO LONG! I'M A SLACKER.

Tseng's POV

What a wasted day. I have spent the last four hours running around town (without a car, mind you) looking for a job. Really, you can not tell me that noone in this town is hiring. The few places that were looking for employees told me that they would call me back. Not sure how much hope I am going to put into one of those phone calls. Though I don't see why they wouldn't call. I mean, I am a respectable young adult, very clean cut, always courteous. My hair may be a little long, but it is by no means offending. Back in Wutai it signified maturity. But then again, a lot of things were different in Wutai. I miss it sometimes. A lot, actually.

I moved to America to live with my mother, half brother, and step father after my father died a few years ago. I had always visited my mother, of course, but never lived with her permanently until then. Zack and I were able to get along quite well with each other. Back when I used to visit over school breaks there was never any awkward moments between us, no time lost. We were always able to pick up right where we left off. Now that it was a full time thing, we remained close, but of course at the same time, very hostile towards one another. Brotherly love, I suppose.

Now back in my own neighborhood, I slowly made my way up the driveway. The car Zack and I shared was there, so that meant he was home by now. Good. Now I can brutalize him for getting me fired from my last job, which in turn caused me to walk around for hours on end looking for a replacement. Zack's more trouble than he's worth.

I finally reached the front door. As I walked in I was met by my step father.

"Hello Randy" I greeted him. After my father's death and coming to live full time with my family here, it was a little awkward at first as to what to call my step father. I felt it rude to call him by his first name, but he would have it no other way. 'What good is it if your own sons can't even call you by your name?' he had said. And I suppose it was true. He never treated me any less than his own son. He was a good man, and if it weren't that I would feel disloyal to my own father, I would probably call him Dad.

"Hey Tseng. Any luck finding a job?" he asked me as he was hauling a large bag toward the front door. I guess Mother had him take the trash out.

Sniffling at the foul smelling bag, I waved him off while answering him. "I'm not sure, I will just have to see if anyone calls me back."

He smiled and continued through the door way. "I'm running to the store, do you need anything?"

I stood in the open doorway and ran through my mental checklist. I couldn't think of anything I needed. "No."

"All right" he called, opening the car door. "I'll be home soon. Do me a favor and replace the trash bag. And tell your mom to hurry up. I've been waiting on her for 10 minutes now."

I nodded and closed the door behind me and made my way into the kitchen.

Hm. Replace the trash bag. I suppose I could do that _before_ I go about strangling my brother for the evening. Yes, I'd still have plenty of time.

I heard the car horn blare from outside, and I could hear mother running down the stares muttering to herself about men and their lack of patience.

"Hey Tsengy!" She said, smiling. Not one of my favorite nick names, but I suppose I could deal with it. I had mentioned it bothering me to her before, and she got a little upset. I just let it go now.

"Your little friend came by to see you today. You know, the big scary one. With the eyes."

I scoffed. "All of my friends have eyes, mother." She rolled her own eyes and giving me that 'you know what I meant' look.

My mother never seemed to use names, just descriptions when talking about people.

She usually described Sephiroth as "the guy with the scary eyes" or "the big creepy one with nothing nice to say" and Rufus as "her baby" or "the son she never had."

Strange as it was, Mother was quite taken with Rufus and treated him just like she would a spoiled child. Maybe it was that "I'm so adorable and lost and alone" look he got in his eyes sometimes. Well, when he wasn't being an evil little bastard, of course. And believe me, Rufus could be a bastard. Mother had just never seen this side of him before. It didn't bother me much, it meant if I wanted something, I could just have Rufus ask for it. Like that time we craved chocolate cake. We sent him out with a little pouty look, and within 15 minutes she had a nice cake made for us. Which is unusual since I am pretty sure cakes have to bake for at least 20..

Anyway, apparently Sephiroth had dropped by. I wonder what he wanted.

The horn called out again from outdoors. Randy had no doubt been sitting there counting the seconds, waiting on Mother. She was slow getting ready for anything, even a trip to the store.

"If you go anywhere, be sure you let Zachary know! Be safe and call us if you think of anything you need!" She called back to me as she hurried out of the front door, locking it behind her.

I made my way over to the cabinet beneath the sink. At least that's where I think we keep the trash bags. They had a habit of getting moved around, as do most household items when you needed them. Digging through the cabinet, I decided to invest in tap lights or something, because it is impossible to see anything down here. I dug around a little more, further back into the cabinet. I must have looked pretty funny, on my hands and knees half way in a cabinet. It's not like anyone-

"TSENG GUESS WHAT!"

"God-dammit!" I groaned as I slammed my head on the underside of the wooden shelf. I fell back against the stove behind me, leaning against it and clutching my head.

That hurt.

It was one of those pains where after you hit something really hard, it hurts to touch, but it seems like it hurts even more if you don't hold on to it. It was strange logic. But who needs logic, as I was holding the bump on my head for all I was worth.

I felt Zack's hand on my shoulder as he knelt down beside me. Because I really want to be touched when I am in agonizing pain and all. He chuckled a little. That asshole.

"You all right? I'm sorry man. I didn't know I would scare ya." I smacked his hand away and clutched my head tighter, wondering why my 'logic' didn't seem to be working.

"I'm Peachy." I grunted out. Yep. Peachy. If by 'peachy', you of course meant 'Hi. I'm really pissed off at you right now and if I wasn't sure my brain would explode if I let go of my head, I would strangle you with that telephone chord hanging on the wall 3 feet away.'

Yea...Peachy.

Sighing, I released my head and stood up from the floor that I now felt dirty for sitting on. I guess Zack had a guess at my internal definition of 'peachy' because he was currently trying to replace the garbage bag for me.

Naturally, he was failing horribly. He didn't seem able to decide which end opened up, as he kept flipping it over and trying each side, no luck each time.

Realizing this was going nowhere, I took the bag from him, gave him a look that screamed "idiot" and opened the bag and put it in the trash can. It really wasn't that hard.

"Now what were you screaming about?" I asked him, now that my immediate responsibility had been taken care of and my head had stopped throbbing to the point of being dangerous.

Whatever look he may have been wearing that resemble clumsy guilt slipped off his face and was replaced with one of smugness and barely concealed joy.

"Wellll..." he drawled out. "You know the my English teacher? The amazing one that never makes us do anything and comes to school hung over all the time?"

I nodded, wondering where this could possibly go.

"Well he assigned us a major project!" He said, all giddy and happy. That was strange, Zack hates homework, as most kids do.

"We get _Partners_." he said to me, with an insane glint in his eyes, holding up his index finger. I rolled my eyes.

"And who, pray tell, is the idiot who chose to work with you?"

"Oh.." He said, looking as though he had forgotten who his partner was "...Sephiroth."

He ended with a grin. I stared at him blankly for several seconds.

"He didn't have a single say in the matter, did he?" I asked, deadpan.

Zack smiled widely, "Not a one!" he answered, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. "He got checked out of school. Reno didn't announce the project until after he left. So naturally..you know...I didn't want him to get stuck working ALONE! Or with some lame partner who would make him so all the work." he said, as though he were making the biggest sacrifice of his life by forcing Seph to work with him.

"But that's just me. Putting myself out there for him. Making him my partner when I could have chosen someone much dumber and far less good looking. But no. I'm always looking out for everyone else. The burden of the world on my shoulders. I think I deserve something special, don't you Tseng?"

I looked at him skeptically, wondering what he could possibly want. "No, I don't think so, actually."

He pouted. "Come one Tseng! We never hang out anymore! You are always with your friends or I am always with mine. And if not that, you were at work. So before you get another job, we should use the time while we have it. Come on, lets go out to eat. My treat."

I stared at him, thinking that a free meal sounded kind of nice, and he was right. While he was annoying and loud and immature, he was still my brother and we never did see much of each other anymore. I sighed and looked up at him. "All right. But you're paying."

He looked at me, and his eyes darted to the floor as his hand went to scratch his head. "Yea...um...about that. I was hoping you would pay."

"You said your trea-" He cut me off, grinning and waving his hand. "I know, I know. I'll pay you back. Let's go."

Sighing once more to let him know how much this was paining me inside, I allowed him to drag me out of the door.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Axel's POV

Oh. My. God. I'm going insane. Seriously. I think I am going to fucking _die_ of boredom.

I hate Reno. Assigning that little brat to be my partner.

He insisted that we had to go to the library right after school. Just had to start on the project as soon as possible! We didn't even have a due date yet, and we were starting already! Does he know who I am? I put things off until the last minute, and not start them until I even know how long I _can _procrastinate and then ultimately not do anything at all. The fact that I have made it to the 12th grade still amazes even me.

"Can you stop grumbling to yourself? It's really annoying and you make it really hard to concentrate. Plus you look like and uncivilized neanderthal."

His whiney little voice made me want to hang myself. What is with this kid? What crawled up his ass, had a picnic, and died? Jesus.

"We don't even have a topic. What are you reading about?" I mumbled, just to piss him off, as I reclined in my seat, throwing my feet on the table. I saw the librarian give me a dirty look, but I flipped her the bird and she looked down abruptly. Librarians are always such nice people. And you can walk all over nice people.

The snuffly little blonde looked up at me, his big blue eyes distraught and irritated.

"I'm reading to _find_ a topic, Axel. What are you doing? Thinking about 7 different ways to rape your elderly grandmother?"

What the hell? Who did this kid think he was? And why would I even _think_ that about a grandmother. I love my granny, she bakes all nice and stuff.

I smiled, buying into his little bitch game.

"Are you implying that there are _non_ elderly grandmothers? 'Elderly Grandmother' is a little redundant, don't you think?"

Oooh. Redundant. See that Rufus? Axel knows big words, too. Score one for Axel.

Rufus just rolled his eyes and looked at me desperately.

"Look." he began. "You don't like me, and I don't like you. Common knowledge. Can we just pick a topic, read a little about it, write a few paragraphs, and be done with this? Then we can get away from each other and you don't have to sit around and be bored with me instead of running around getting drunk and falling on your ass."

Hey, that's not all I did. Other that getting drunk, I also was a very avid movie goer. I also enjoyed calling Roxas at all hours of the night and then three-waying Demyx so we can tell him scary stories and then hang up, leaving him unable to sleep for the rest of the night. His blood shot eyes were priceless the following morning.

I rolled my eyes and pulled a book my way. "Whatever." I said, and pretended to read.

I wonder if I can smuggle beer into the library.

Okay, so basically, it was long over due.

And It's kind of annoying to look at see that the story has over 400 hits, but only 2 people reviewing. One of them doesn't even really count because they are my best friend that's expected of her.

So really, Rios is the only one doing her duty as a good fic reader. The rest of you disappoint me. But it isn't too late! Review, my friends, and make my day!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer

You know, same-old same-old.

I don't own any of the character or any of the places, products, or businesses that I may have mentioned. Yay-wee-woo.

123456789(Line breaks don't like to work for me)987654321

**Chapter 8**

Rufus POV

Why does God hate me? I mean really. I've never done anything to Him!...or Her.. God, if you're a woman, I'm sorry. And if you're not..I'm still sorry for whatever it is that I have obviously done to make you so angry at me.

I looked up at my ceiling from where I was laying on my bed. I could hear my father entertaining some woman or another in the next room.

I miss my mother.

_Standing beside my father, I watched as my mother's casket was lowered into the earth. _

_Lucille A. Shinra_

_Wife and Mother_

_1/29/63 – _3/2/99

_Forever Loved_

Thinking back, I laughed at the engravings that were written on my mother's headstone. Engravings that were embedded into my memory just as intricately as they were into that marble slab, if not more so.

"Forever Loved." I mumbled out loud to myself.

Who was he kidding? My father never loved my mother. He says he used to. Back before I was born, before I came into their happy lives and ruined everything. But I don't believe him. He has never cared about anyone other than himself. I don't know why he even married her. Didn't want some bastard child to ruin his reputation, I suppose. He was a very wealthy, important man after all.

"But I love you. I still do. I always will." It was only a whisper, but I knew she could hear it.

I think I have said that every night since he died. Hard to believe it was seven years ago. I was only nine...That was the day my world came to a skidding halt.

_A nice woman with sad eyes led me into the hospital room. She told me to hurry. She said my father was talking to a doctor on another floor, and if I hurried, I could see mommy._

_I've missed her. I love mom._

_I don't know why she has to stay here, in this scary hospital. Daddy says it's because she doesn't want to live at home with me around. But that's not true. Mommy loves me._

_I was standing in the doorway when the nice sad lady left us alone. I could see mom on the bed. I gasped a little at how pale she had gotten since the last time I had seen her. She was so small now...so sick._

_Dad says I made her sick. That if it weren't for me, she would be happy and she wouldn't be dying. But I know that's not true. She says she loves me._

_I think I woke her, because she groaned softly and tilted her head to look at me._

"_Rufus." she called out to me, in the most loving voice I have ever heard. There was something else in her voice. Something I didn't understand. I did know that it scared me._

"_Come here, baby." She said through a smile._

..Mother..

_I ran to her bed. I was careful not to get tangled on any of those wires and tubes those doctors put into her. I didn't want to accidentally pull one. I have done that before. It hurt her. I didn't want to her mom. Dad says I did it on purpose. That isn't true! I love mommy._

_I crawled up to her and she circled her arms around me. I nuzzled closer to her frail body, cherishing every rare moment I had with her. She pulled a shaky hand from around me, the one without the needle in it, and began to stroke my hair._

"_I love you, baby. Don't ever forget that. I love you, Rufus." She whispered gently against my forehead. _

"_I love you, mommy..." I answered, fading into blissful sleep with my mother's_ _comforting touches and loving embrace._

_When I woke up, mommy was cold. The nurse was pulling me away from her and I didn't want to go. The nurse said she was gone._

_No she wasn't! She was right here! I was touching her!_

_I grabbed mothers hand and she didn't grab back. The nurse let go of me._

"_Do you think you could excuse us?" I heard the voice of my father behind me, and the nurse left the room closing the door behind her._

"_You really did it this time." He said, shaking his head at me._

_I began tapping mother's shoulder but she wouldn't wake up. Again I squeezed her hand, the hand that had just a short time ago been petting me, but she still did not squeeze back._

_I began to panic and shake her, screaming out to her._

"_Mommy!! Mommy wake up! Please! Mother!"_

_Why wasn't she listening to me?_

_My father grabbed my wrist and snatched me off of the bed and away from her still body. He held me by it, dangling in the air. I began to cry and he slapped my face._

"_She's dead, boy. What's wrong with you? Touching a corpse. You are a twisted little shit."_

_He dropped me to the floor and I curled up into a ball. _

_Mother...dead? No. No no no. She wouldn't leave me. She loved me. She couldn't leave me. _

_I could hear father yelling at me, demanding that I stand up, that it was time to go, but I didn't listen._

_I wouldn't leave her. Even if she had left me._

My father was less than pleased with my behavior, and I ended up **having** to stay at the hospital that night. So in the end, I suppose I got what I wanted.

I sighed and glanced at the clock, trying to clear my head of the unwanted flashback, and return to my train of thought.

So where were we? Ah, yes, my father being an insensitive asshole.

After her death, I don't think my father even skipped a beat. Less than a week later he was back to bringing strange women into the house, telling me to go to my room and to stay there.

I shook my head and wiped away the remaining memory induced tears. You know, I could deal with my home life. I could, and I always had. I could handle being 16 and without a mother, and I could handle having an abusive Jackass as a father.

I paused to rub the puffy red sore under my right eye. It would go down before morning..that was good.

I could deal with all of this. But you know what I can't deal with?

Axel.

Out of all people, I had to be his partner.

I wish Tseng hadn't graduated.

I sighed again. My thoughts were so jumbled.

Frustration is getting to me, I guess.

_Mother_

I wonder what Tseng and Sephiroth are doing. I never found out why Seph got checked out of class today. I tried to call him, but his cousin answered the phone so I just hung up. I can't coax that idiot into anything like Tseng can. I tried calling Tseng afterwards, but I guess nobody was home.

I miss them, too. And it has only been a few days since I saw Tseng and like...1,2,3,4...7 hours since I saw Seph.

Think I'm a little on the dependant side? Yea, you could say that. Or scream it. Whatever makes you feel better, you know? Yea, I know.

I shouldn't answer my own thoughts. It's weird.

Oh well. It doesn't matter.

What does matter is that I need them.

The only two true friends I have ever had, and probably the only two I ever will. But I don't care, I'm not concerned about the numbers, they are the only two I'll ever need. It's funny just how much in common we three have, and yet we are so different that sometimes you wonder how we can stand each other.

Tseng. His father, my mother. His father a victim of an indiscriminate street crime, my mother a victim of cancer. We both know what it is to lose a parent. I only wish it had been my father instead of her.

I don't know if Sephiroth ever met his mother, he has never mentioned anything of her. His father is a crazy son of a bitch if there ever was one, though. That's why he moved here, actually. To get the hell away from that bastard. When a crazy, eclectic uncle and your drug addict cousin are your best options, you know your dad is insane.

So anyway, we all know what it is to have lost or not have had at all. Tseng was lucky though. His mom is one of the most wonderful people I have ever met, and his step father is a good man, too.

I trust them with my life...Not Tseng's parents of course. I'm talking about Tseng and Sephiroth. My thoughts like to get wrapped up and confusing.

Like I said before, we are each very different as well. Like for example, how we deal with things... "Like for example..." Listen to me. I sound like a 5 paragraph essay for English class.

Anyway. How we deal with things.

I am a "Habitual Bottler" as Tseng says. I try to hold everything inside of me, thinking I can deal with it on my own time. But that never works. Eventually that bottle starts to fill up, and then that one little thing happens. The proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back." It' s like someone just grabbed that bottle, shook it for all it's worth, and popped the cork.

Que Explosion.

And what an ugly sight that is, let me tell you. I hate it.

But you know...afterwards...after the meltdown. After the screaming and the crying to Tseng and Sephiroth...I feel...Wonderful. The bottle is washed out and sparkling clean.

But as fate would have it, that bottle is doomed to be 100 recyclable. And it doesn't take long before it starts filling up again. But whatever, such is life, you know?

Letsee. Next is Sephiroth.

We are not exactly sure just what it is that he does, but that doesn't stop Tseng and I from having our guesses.

One theory we have is that he too is a bottler, because despite what it may look like, things actually _do_ effect Sephiroth. However, is he is a bottler, he has never really used us to seriously vent. Half of me is grateful because I don't know if I could stand seeing him if his breakdowns are anything like mine. The other half is disappointed, because I want to be there for him like he is for me. Me and Tseng both do.

Another possibility is that he is a homicidal psychopath, and when something bothers him he kills it within a 24 hour period, before it has time to build up any lasting effect. We have no real evidence to prove this theory correct ( Zack is still alive after all), but it sure as hell doesn't make it any less likely than the first one.

We used to have a third theory. We used to think that maybe...maybe nothing _did_ bother him. That maybe he was as cold and unshakable as he appeared. But as I said, things _do_ bother him, an we found that out the hard way. Tseng and I had only known Sephiroth for about a month and a half at that time, but I guess it goes to show just how close we had become. And closer still we came after that evening. It was the night the Sephiroth found out about my 'home situation.'

"_Hello?" Tseng's voice answered through the telephone._

"_I'm coming over" I whispered into the receiver and hung up before he could respond. I knew he wouldn't mind. My dad was drunk again and I had to get out of this house._

_One last glance in the mirror at my newly acquired black eye and ugly busted lip and I ran out of my room, past my screaming father, and out the front door._

_Fortunately, I'm a rich boy so getting a taxi once I found a payphone a safe distance from my house was no real problem._

"_What happened to you, kid?" The cab driver had asked when he arrived. His license read 'Cid Highwind." Irrelevant knowledge, I guess._

_Though he sounded genuinely concerned, I only answered him with a scowl as I got into the cab and directed him where to go._

_15 minutes and $21.32 later, I made it to Tseng's house. Not only that, but my lip at stopped bleeding. Happy day, huh?_

I still think that guy ripped me off, that's more that a dollar a minute, but at the time I didn't care.

_Tseng's mother answered the door. She saw my face and she knew it would be better not to ask me any questions. Instead, she simply hugged me and whispered "He's up in his room, honey."_

_In that moment, more than ever, I wished I had a mother. One that would always hug me and know what to say. Or more importantly: what not to say._

_This was the night I began to call her 'Mom.'_

_When I opened his bedroom door I noticed a couple things._

_1) Sephiroth was over._

_2) Zack was in there, too._

_Before I could turn back they had already seen me, so there was really no point in trying to leave now and run away. Tseng and Sephiroth were both seated on the bed and Zack was laying on the floor below them._

_I closed the door and sat down on the chair at the computer desk, keeping my eyes on the floor._

_Even Zack knew something was wrong, and acted with complete seriousness. _

"_Do you want me to leave?" He asked. I thought about it. There was no question as to what happened to me, I had very obviously gotten the shit beat out of me, it was just how it happened and who did it that would remain a mystery. _

_And if I were to just tell him and ask him not to tell anyone, he wouldn't inadvertently start any rumors._

_Besides, when it came down to it, I know I could trust Zack. I had known him for a very long time, and he had never done anything to hurt me._

"_No." I said. "Just don't tell anybody."_

_Satisfied with his solemn nod, I looked to Tseng. "You already know." He nodded and I turned my eyes to Sephiroth, who was looking at me with a mix of confusion and mild anger. My eyes darted to the floor._

"_Seph...I'm sorry I never told you. It's not that I have been hiding it from you or anything, I swear, it's just hard to bring up I guess..."_

_I glanced up to see him staring at me intently, his lips in a straight, tight line. Upon seeing my discomfort he seemed to try to force himself to soften his expression a little._

_He must have know I was having a difficult time, so he made it quite simple._

"_Who." He asked, although it wasn't a question. I held his gaze as I answered, and I saw his eyes catch on fire as I stated quietly "My father."_

_I watched him carefully as I moved to sit beside Tseng on the bed. Zack stood from his position on the floor and moved in front of me. He held up on finger, looking at me uncertainly._

"_I know this won't help you any...but-" he smiled warmly and bent over to hug me. I was shocked, because Zack and I had never been close, though I suppose we were after that since I had just shared a very personal secret with him. Zack pulled away and sat back down on the floor, and Tseng wrapped and arm around my shoulders._

..a family..

_It was almost like I had a real family._

_Sephiroth: The quite, knowledgeable, trustworthy brother who would always be there without actually needing to be there. Zack: the bouncy, hyper-active, cheery, honest to a T brother that you trusted, but still didn't want to share **everything** with. And Tseng...I couldn't bring myself to think of Tseng as a brother. Maybe it was because I-_

_The bedroom door slammed shut. All of us were jolted out of whatever train of thought we may have been on to realize that Sephiroth had just more or less stormed from the room._

_That night the local police department received a phone call from the residence of a Mr. Shinra. It was a woman claiming that an unknown trespasser had broken into the household and brutally beaten the man into unconsciousness._

_She was in the bathroom at the time, and Mr. Shinra had no memory of the attack. No suspects were ever found, no charges were ever filed._

_That night Sephiroth also had "protective" added to his list of brotherly attributes._

Yet again I found myself shaking my head to clear my thoughts of a memory. As I had been saying...thinking, Sephiroth was not the 'man of stone' as everyone believed. He was just really damn close.

Now I guess we have Tseng, and his "coping strategy."

I think his is probably the best of us, since it really just lays everything out there in the open for you. When something bothers Tseng, he says something. Wether it be a "Please refrain from doing that again" or a threat depends on the offense, of course. Do something really bad and you'll probably get the shit kicked out of you.

Like that time some asshole said I was pretty. He was about to say something much more vulgar, judging by his hand gestures, when he mysteriously hit the ground nursing a spurting fountain for a nose.

Because of his way of taking things, Tseng is probably the most mentally stable of the three of us. Lucky bastard.

I rolled over. My back was starting to ache laying like that.

Since Tseng had graduated last year, Sephiroth had taken it upon himself to be my new 'protector' in school. This was a good thing. A very good thing. There were a lot of people who dislike my father and who in turn dislike me. Me being a malicious little asshole probably doesn't help my case any.

I knew that there were a lot of people who had just been dying for Tseng to graduate, so he would get out of school and then I would be there alone for another year without my "body guard." You can imagine their disappointment when I showed up first day of the school year, shoulder to shoulder with the scariest motherfucker you've ever seen.

I had met Sephiroth the summer before our 12th grade year, which is this year. He had just moved in with his uncle a few blocks down the road from Tseng. One day when his cousin Xemnas got hammered and ran off somewhere, Sephiroth's uncle forced him to go out and find him. We bumped into him walking down the road and everything just kind of clicked, you know? We helped him find his cousin, who wound up being curled up inside one of those green electric boxes. It's amazing he didn't die.

It was now half way through the school year. In the time of our meeting to now, we had become excellent friends. I had even trusted him enough to tell him my greatest secret.

That I was in love with one of my best friends.

That I was in love with Tseng.

When I told him he cocked his head to the side and smirked a little. One of those "wouldn't you like to know what I'm thinking" smirks. That was a week ago and ever since then he had been subtly making fun of me about it.

Nothing big, just little things, like clearing his throat every time someone says Tseng's name. Which between the two of us, is an awful lot.

I heard a high pitch giggling through the wall and I rolled back over onto my stomach and buried my face in the pillow.

Did he always have to pick the _loud_ whores? There is nothing worse than having to overhear your father and some overpriced prostitute (only the best for my dad) having sex.

Except of course having to _see_ it, Which thankfully is something I have never had to endure.

I don't want to go to school tomorrow...What if Sephiroth isn't there? Maybe he got checked out because he was sick?...Or he won a free trip to Africa or something...uh huh...

I forced myself to calm down. Even if he wasn't there tomorrow, I could survive a day alone, right? I mean, I may be little and weak, but I'm meaner than hell and I can make your life absolutely miserable if I wanted to. It's amazing what money can do.

So I could get on all right, but still. I'd be lonely...And who would I eat lunch with? I hate sitting alone in that disgusting lunch room. I hate hearing all of those people sit there and whisper about me like I can't hear them. Even worse are the people who want me to hear them, and talk as loud as they want in hopes of getting me all riled up.

I released a breath. I need to stop being so insecure. Tomorrow I would see Sephiroth at school as usual, and afterwards we would go over to see Tseng. I would be with people who cared about me, that actually gave a damn. People who loved me.

_My Family._

123456789(I bet the line break doesn't work again)987654321

Author's Note time! Okay so this is pretty important. **_IF YOU READ THIS STORY, YOU NEED TO READ THIS_** I am almost positive that I will be moving this story from the Kingdom Hearts section over to the Final Fantasy VII section. I feel it will be more well received, since there are more FF than KH characters here. Half of these people probably don't even know who Rufus and Tseng are, and to know fault of their own just can't grasp it as well as FF readers could. So anyway, if you are reading and enjoying this story, please look for it over there. I will probably transfer it sometime in the next few days. Hopefully I can figure out how to do it without getting things all messed up. I'm hoping to leave the title the same. Thank you for reading. If you are still confused, you can email me. My email address is on my profile page thing here.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I swear it.

A/N

Okay...So baaaaasically...this update is so disgustingly over-due that it isn't even funny. I really do apologize. It's just that perfect combination of "I have a lot of crap going on right now" and sheer laziness to allow nothing to get done. Anyway, thanks for baring with me.

Also, this is the first chapter under the FFVII genre, so this will be some what exciting to see how it is received here.

((((1234 So sick of nonexistent line breaks 4321))))

**Chapter 9**

**Clouds' POV**

Turning in my seat for the fortieth time this half hour, I leaned back against the wall of my History class. The teacher was rambling on and on about the old Wutian war and how the whole country was filled with nothing but savages and cannibals. Hmm, I'll have to ask Tseng about that. Something tells me this teacher just has something against Wutai, because I have heard lots of stories and none of them involved cannibalism..Gotta love those racist, ex-military teachers.

Once more, I shifted in my seat again. I don't know who made these desks, or with what, but they did a God-awful job, that's for sure. The chair didn't have a problem telling me that either, as it released another tired groan under my weight.

As I was debating wether the noise emitted was sharp or flat, because this class is just that boring, I felt something smack me in the back of the head. Getting ready to bitch somebody out for disturbing my very serious internal dialogue, I whipped around to see Zack smiling and pointing down at the floor. I glanced down and saw a crumpled piece of notebook paper with the word "Cloud" scrambled poorly across it, followed by a various amount of exclamation points and other symbols that probably aren't real. Bending in my seat to pick up the note, and also ignoring the cry of protest my chair made, I shook my head at him. Seriously, he is still writing me notes? What is he, 10? Sending him one last sardonic side glance, I turned forward in my seat once more and grabbed another sheet of paper.

You may be wondering why I needed another sheet of paper. No, it isn't because I was planning to "write him back in a jiffy." Whatever the hell a "jiffy" was (peanut butter, I think). No, it was because Zack's hand writing was just _that_ bad. To understand his notes, you had to look at his and decipher word by word, and write them down on the new sheet as you translated them into a legible form of written coherency. When you are done writing, you are the proud owner of a semi-translated Zack note. Okay, so maybe his writing wasn't that bad, but it made me feel better to act like it was.

I spent the next five minutes reading his note, since it was surprisingly lengthy and still messy. I could hear him coughing his impatience from a few seats back, but I ignored him. Another two minutes later and I was sure I had the Zack-Note fully translated. Ain't I a smart 'un.

_Hey Cloud!!!_

_How are YoooOooOoou doing?_ _You look bored. You keep moving around. By the way, if you make that chair squeal one more time I am probably going to walk over there and throw up on your desk. Just a warning, You can thank me later._ _You can buy me lunch or something, maybe ice cream, whatever you pick._

_So guess what? I talked to Sephiroth this morning. I told him the English project. He only looked semi-pissed off! Not even pissed off really, instead it was more of that "I am tired and worn out and you are killing me inside" look. I think he's warming up to me...I wonder if he would warm up _**with **_me...eheh. Yea, I could see it now. I'm laying in bed one night. One COLD night, mind you. In fact, I'm sleeping in an igloo. So I'm laying in my igloo, thinking about how damn cold it is, when this chica-bow-wow porn music comes up. I hear knocking on my igloo door, and when I answer it, there is this large penguin. The penguin comes inside, then just as I am about to ask it what it's doing, it unzips it's back to reveal Sephiroth in only a partially zipped Eskimo ski-parka. He'd unzip that jacket, and let it fall to the floor. "Burr" He'd say in a coy little voice, and I'd—_

I quit reading at this point, because quite frankly, I don't want to know what Zack would do with a ski jacket penguin imposter Sephiroth. Call me rude, but there are just some things I would like to not know in full, gory, naked detail. I skipped down a few lines when I assumed his train of thought would have shifted and started again there.

_So I argued with him for a while and convinced him to let me come over tonight so we could start. He said only this once though, and that after this we would do it at my house. Tseng told me about the family he is living with, so I can't really blame him, but I just can't resist seeing his room once, ya know? Maybe he has pictures of me in there..._

_Speaking of pictures. I got those pictures back last night when Tseng took me out to eat! HE TOOK THEM AWAY FROM ME! THAT ASSHOLE! He said I didn't need to have them and that he would hold onto them. I saw them for a half a second though...God Damn that is a hot picture. Seph and myself, locked in a moment of half consented passion_. _I **will** get that picture back._

_Anyway. I guess you'd like me to get to the point, huh? Well here it goes:_

There was a large picture of a poof ball labeled "I want a Chinchilla" with stars and happy faces surrounding it. It was the most horrid, colorful mess I'd seen all day. It was of course ended with:

_Write me back, because I'm beyond bored._

_And because it is the nice thing to do. Come on Cloud, don't you want to be a nice guy?_

_-Your dearest and most valuable friend. Zack._

_P.S. Does this teacher hate Wutai or what?! I'd hate for this guy to meet Tseng in a dark alley._

I ripped off a corner of the paper and wrote

"_You're an obsessed idiot. Stop telling me your sexual fantasies. You are going to fail English. I'm glad those pictures are gone. There was no point to your note. And I would love for Tseng to meet this guy in a dark alley, too. Have fun being bored, because I don't like writing notes. Love- your bestest best friend, Cloud._

_P.S. You will never get a chinchilla. "_

I lobbed it in his general direction, making sure to make my chair squeak extra loud in the process. I heard Zack groan with frustration a few minutes later.

"Would it kill you to write back like normal people?"

The teacher paused from his verbal attack of the Wutian government to look at Zack. Good job Zack. Just declare to the world that you are writing notes in the class. Thanks. It didn't take the teachers eyes long to fall on the color-wad that was the Zack-Note on my desk.

"Hmmm.." was all he said as he approached and took the note from my desk. He then proceeded to read it to himself.

Please God tell me that Zack's handwriting is too bad for this guy to read, please, please, please.

My heart sank as the teachers eyes went wide.

"Eskimo ski-parka, Zack?" I heard the man ask. Behind me I could hear Zack choke on his own spit.

"Who is this 'Sephiroth'? I have heard that name quite a few times from many students. She must be quite the looker for even you to pay attention to, Zack, since I have yet to see you pay attention to anything in here. I hope the poor girl doesn't know you write things like this about her."

About this time, the whole classroom had erupted in laughter, Zack and myself included.

He called Sephiroth a girl?! Oh my God. When Leon hears about this he is going to die. Maybe this class isn't so boring after all.

Mr. Stepson was a new teacher here, he had just transferred here from another school half way through the first semester. Apparently he had not yet been acquainted with Sephiroth. Though after that statement, it is probably in his best interest that he _never_ become acquainted with him.

"You can bet on that, sir." Came the voice of some kid down in the front row. I didn't know who he was, but I could assume what he was one of the many guys who did not like Sephiroth. "Hottest chick at this school. That girly long silver hair, little waist." A bunch of his friends laughed as he said this. It wasn't often someone made fun of Seph. It just wasn't a smart thing to do. But then again, this kid didn't look too smart. He was probably mad because his girlfriend had a crush on Sephiroth or something. "And that face and those lips. Men from miles around are probably dying to get a lick on them. She puts out, I hear."

Whoa. Wait. Who the hell is this kid? Doesn't he know just how BAD he is going to get his ass kicked? It's not like Sephiroth won't hear about this.

It was then that I noticed a large shadow pass my line of vison, and looked to the side to see Zack passing by me. Oh Mother Hell.

"Zack." I called to him. He just looked back at me, with a pretty pissed off look. Well damn. Never mind. I sighed and decided that whatever Zack wanted to do, Zack was going to do. If that look was any kind of evidence, anyway.

Stalking up to Mr. Stepson, he snatched the note from his hands and folded it up and placed it in his pocket.

"Actually, sir." He began through a sarcastic smile. I knew whatever he was going to say next was going to make him sound like such a bitch, and so un-Zack like that it wasn't even funny. "Sephiroth is a _Boy._ No, make that **man.**" He rounded on the kid in the front row who had been making the comments about Seph. "A Man. Got it? And just because he's fuckin' sexy and you permanently look like you get fucked up the ass by a whale, then fell off a sky scraper into a bucket of _shit_ doesn't mean you have to be spiteful." By now his sarcastic grin had fallen in to a look that resembled hate more than any other look I had ever seen pass Zack's features.

He took a couple of steps backwards, then sent me a grin.

"Now if you don't mind, sir, I'm going to go to the bathroom real quick. Feel free to carry on your anti-Wutai ramble without me, which by the way is probably going to get your fired if I can do anything about it."

Giving me a quick wave and another broad smile, he turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

"...Jesus Christ" came from somewhere in the back of the room. Apparently every one was just as shocked as I was by Zack's unusual behavior. The boy in the front row looked stunned and embarrassed and was currently staring at his book like chapter 6 was the most interesting thing in the entire world. I'm sure his friends would make fun of him later for not having some witty comeback of something. Though I can't blame him. Getting chewed out by Zack, _ZACK,_ was not something anyone would ever expect.

Grinning and leaning back in my seat I raised my hand in the air.

"Can I go to lunch early?"

The teacher didn't look away from the doorway Zack had paraded out of, and just gave a slow nod. Collecting my things I stood from the desk, sending the shamed boy a grin, and headed out the door. I don't think lunch had even started yet. No, not until next period. But that's okay.

Life was good.

–end of chapter–

So it was short..I know I know. It was supposed to be longer, but I am about to go out of town in like...10 minutes, and I vowed that I would post what I had before I left. It's only fair, right? Thanks for reading and I apologize for the lack of updates. I'll try to work on that.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer:

I know I know. I own nothing. Nobody, no companies, no characters, nothing. Clear?

---

A/N:

Allll right...So It's been a while, I really do apologize. No updates since 11/10. Jeeez.

Well, I've been busy and everything (no excuse, I know..).

Anyway, hopefully I will get my stuff dealt with and get back on track with this story, if anyone is still reading.

---

**CHAPTER 10**

Cloud's POV

What is taking so long? We've been waiting in this classroom for the last fifteen minutes now, ever since school let out.

I scanned the room to see all the others who had chosen to come in. Today was going to be the first meeting of the Poetry Club; kind of a trial to see if you really wanted to join or not. There weren't too many kids here, just myself and nine others, some I recognized and some I didn't.

The small group didn't surprise me, I had been hoping it would be this way, actually. Again I looked around the room, bored. Oh. You have to be kidding me. My eyes fell on one kid who was picking his nose. Gross! And the kid next to him was just laughing about it! What was wrong with those two? Maybe I was in the wrong room, maybe this was detention...I looked up to the front chalkboard that read in large, pale yellow letters: "_POETRY CLUB_."

Below that it said in smaller but somehow more serious writing

"_Sit down and shut up. Don't even think about stealing anything because I will know it was you. If you aren't serious about joining this group, then get the hell out now, before I get in the room_. _Thank you._"

Yea...I was in the write room.

Okay. So it has been twenty minutes now, I've been waiting patiently, and there is still no teacher. I had asked around earlier at school, and no one seemed to be able to tell me which teacher was even going to be in charge of this group. The only proof I had that there even _was_ a teacher was the message on the front board.

It was then that I heard the doorknob twist. Looking forward to having this mystery solved, I glanced up too see if I could see through the window on the door, but all I could see was a large box overflowing with of art supplies.

You can imagine my disappointment when the familiar face of Demyx poked his head in the doorway and looked around.

"Poetry club?" he asked. Several of the students told that it was indeed the right room. He grinned and pushed the door open with his hip and wheeled in a large cart with the boxes of art supplies stacked on it. No wonder I couldn't see past it.

"What are you doing?" I asked him. He couldn't possibly be the teacher, could he? This better not be one of those 'student run, student led' type of organizations. If it was, I was going to walk away now. Though, one more glance at the board assured me that my happy friend was in no way the head of this class.

He finished wheeling the cart into the front of the room and plopped down in the seat next to me, and finally answered my question.

"I was just helping Mr.V"

Mr.V? Who was– oh no. Did he mean..

"Mr. Vincent?"

Demyx nodded as I laid my head down on the desk.

Of course. While he doesn't seem like he would do it, who _else_ would head a poetry club? While he may be qualified, he had a definite grudge against me. He was my fourth period Art teacher, and everything I have ever done, he hated. There is no way I can do this if he is the teacher! He wouldn't even give me a chance!

I was about to grab my things and hightail it out of there when I heard the door knob again. I looked just in time to see the hallway lights flick off. This time the door creaked open, slow and ominous. The exposed doorway was dark and threatening in the lightless hallway.

Was I the only one a little freaked out here? I heard a few kids shuffle and one kid gulp. At least I wasn't alone.

I looked back this time to see a dark figure lingering in the doorway. I was about to get up and leave when the shadowy figure spoke.

"Goddamn janitors...Schools out for twenty minutes and they already have all the fucking lights off..."

The hall lights returned to reveal a particularly angry looking Mr. Vincent. He walked in and looked around. I suppose he wasn't pleased by his students-to be, as he frowned more and more with each face he took in. Suddenly I became overwhelmed with a feeling of guilt, as just our sheer presence seemed to make this angst ridden man yearn for death. Not that he didn't always look that way, mind you.

No one had uttered a word since his dramatic, and quite frankly- terrifying, entrance. Probably because the kids were to scared to say anything. If anyone spoke Mr. Vincent might leap up and rip them apart, then whip out a gun and shoot their remains into oblivion. At least that is what I gathered from the faces of some of the other kids. Everyone at this school thought Mr. Vincent was little crazy, faculty included.

He began digging through a drawer and removed a thin binder.

Slowly, he brought himself in to the front of the classroom, his posture alone reeking of untold pain and anguish, as well as a lot of pent up anger.

"Class" he started.

Wow..he sounded really..

"He sounds Pissed!" Demyx whispered to me, instantly earning a collective gasp from the class, since Demyx did not know how to whisper. Instead of pulling out some mystical, big-ass gun, Mr. Vincent went on as if he hadn't heard.

"I was hoping no one would show up today. But as fate would have it, you have, so write your name on the paper and pass it to the next person." he continued. He then handed the binder to a boy in the front before addressing the class again.

"I suppose I should start with an explanation. This is Poetry Club. Congratulations. Now you can say you are artsy and upperclass, or whatever else you call it. I will be your instructor, Mr. Vincent. Call me Vince, Vinny, Vin, or anything else, and I can promise you that you will get an inner tour of the school's newest pottery kiln. They say it gets hotter than hell, and I have been dying to test it."

I heard a whimper from somewhere in the back of the room.

"I suppose I should also inform you of my policies. I will not take any shit from any of you. Incase you have not noticed, I am less than thrilled about instructing you amateurs. Let me assure you that I want nothing to do with any of you, I am only here because the principal said it was Poetry Club or Volleyball. Now that we have that out of the way. Start writing your poetry and don't say anything. If you need something, deal with it."

And with that, he sat down at the large desk and began thumbing through a book.

...Whoa. I have never heard him say more than 3 words at a time before. That had to be at least a hundred! ...That man is so frightening.

A few moment's later Demyx passed the binder to me and I signed my name in it, and passed it along. I had considered writing a fake name, but I figured Mr. V knew who I was already, so it really would do nothing for my safety.

"Um...Mr. Vincent?"

Eyes wide, I snapped to look at whatever fool had decided to ask a question after what we had just been told. Please don't let it be Demyx. God, please don't let it be Demyx. He is the only person I know in this class.

Luck had been with me, because Demyx looked just as shocked.

There, down in the front row, was the dark haired head Tifa Lockheart, with her hand raised timidly in the air.

I had known her for a long time, we used to hang out a lot as children. Then she developed a massive crush on me and I kind of stayed away from then on. It's not that I didn't think she was a good person or anything, because she was nice, just...Girls scare me.

Still, regardless of whatever may have been felt between us, I didn't want her to die. Fortunately for her, he seemed to be ignoring her.

I guess she took her own luck for granted, since now she actually seemed irritated.

"Mr. Vincent!" she repeated. Again no response. You could tell she was getting steamed, and fast. If there was one thing that Tifa hated, it was being ignored.

Standing briskly, she got up and marched over to his desk where he was still reading.

"Mr. Vincent I was wondering if you were going to teach us something about poetry or if you were just going to sit in here and read..." she paused to look at his book. ".._The Forbidden Love_ all day!"

Well _that_ got his attention. And god_damn,_ could that man scowl. Frown firmly in place, he folded down his page and closed the book, placing it on his desk, before bringing himself to full height. Needless to say, he towered over her 17 year old frame.

"Teach? So you want this to be like a real class, do you?" he asked, drawing it out after some thought.

"Very well then. Like a real class, you can have homework, too. All of you are to go home and write seven poems and four sonnets. You will bring them in tomorrow and turn all but one of them in to me. One you will keep to read to the whole class. Also, as a real class, once you sign up for it, you can not get out of it."

He walked over to the boy in the back desk and grabbed the binder off of his desk.

"I now have all of your names. That means I know who to hold accountable, and if you do not show up tomorrow, I will write you up for truancy. You are dismissed."

And with that he gathered up his romance novel and was out the door.

If Tifa hadn't been on the verge of tears before, she was now, as the whole classroom glared at her.

I looked over to Demyx, who had just slammed his head down on the desk. "So..much...work"

he muttered against the faux wood.

Seven poems and four sonnets...

God, this was going to suck.

---

Tseng's POV

"All right. No, I understand. Thanks anyway."

Sighing, I hung up the phone as I was turned down for yet another job. I don't know what is so wrong with giving me a chance.

Oh well. It was 7:30 pm and I was giving up for the evening.

Besides, Zack was gone to Sephiroth's to start their English project, why waste my silence with job applications?

Just as I flopped down on the bed, there was a knock on the door. You have to be kidding me. "Yea?" I called out, though it was rather muffled through the pillows. Please don't be Randy wanting me to help him put the Christmas lights up, it's too late to do that tonight.

Lucky for me I was greeted with a much more welcome face in my doorway.

"Hey Rufus." I greeted him through a smile. He was just who I wanted to see on a boring night like this. He padded over to me and sat down on the edge of the bed. Strange, usually he just sprawls out next to me, but he hasn't even _said_ anything yet.

Sitting up, I looked over to see that he was clearly debating something. He was just looking at his shoes and he dangled his feet off the bed.

I was about to ask him what was wrong when he turned to me with a serious expression.

"I need to tell you something."

That got my attention. Something was wrong with Rufus. I swear to God, if his father did something to him, I will go over there and make that man _wish_ I were only Sephiroth again. I moved over and put an arm on his shoulder, which he shrugged out of. I have to say, that kind of hurt. And 'kind of' was a bit of an understatement.

He got up from the bed and walked over to stand before me.

"Tseng.."

I was worried now, he wouldn't even look at me.

He kept opening his mouth to speak, but each time he closed it immediately, trying to figure out just what he wanted to say. It was awfully cute, though I could tell he was getting frustrated with himself.

This went on for a few moments, before he stomped his foot on the ground.

"God Dammit! I can't think of any way to say it that won't make me sound stupid, so I'm just going to come out and say it. I have been going over it in my head for a long time now, even with Sephiroth, and I don't care anymore."

Angry and to the point, that was Rufus.

But what has he been going over with Sephiroth? I felt jealousy spike a little at the thought of Seph knowing something about Rufus that I didn't. Was he with Sephiroth now? That bastard! He knows how I feel about Rufus! I'll kill him if it is, best friend or not, I'll–

"I love you."

What?! You.. love me? I guess he took my stunned silence for rejection as he scowled and made his way to leave. No way. You aren't going anywhere now, dear Rufus.

Crossing the floor swiftly I grabbed him by the arm and whirled him around. I went to kiss him, or at least I had planned to, before hauled off and punched me square in the face. For a pretty-boy, he could hit like a bitch.

Clutching my nose I glared at him "What the hell was that for?!"

"Don't think you can just make fun of me about this! I won't stand for it. I just humiliated myself, and I won't have you taking the liberties of doing the same." He said, sniffing slightly.

Poor, poor, confused Rufus. Letting go of my nose, it wasn't bleeding, thankfully, I stood again and grabbed him by the arms so that this time he couldn't hit me.

"Hear me out. And if you try and head butt me, and you'll never walk again." I promised him. Looking at me hatefully he tried to free himself.

"I love you, too, Rufus."

That got him to stay still. He looked up, and before he could question me I brought my head down to kiss him. This time, instead of trying to slug me, I found him kissing me back eagerly. In fact, before I knew it, he had his hands tangled in my hair and was backing me toward the bed. I never knew Rufus was an animal, not that I had any objections. In fact, my only displeasure was that we couldn't be in my room for this, and that we had to be in Zack's bed, which embarrassingly enough was covered in a Jurassic Park bedspread.

When I felt small, soft hands working their way into my shirt, the dinosaurs were a mere memory. Jesus Christ, Rufus.

Smirking against his wild mouth, I ran my hands along his sides and rested them on his hips. He lowered his head to kiss my throat when I looked over his shoulder to see my brother and Sephiroth standing mortified in the doorway.

"What do you think you are doing?!" Zack screamed, caught off guard after walking into his room to find us making out shamelessly on his bed. Rufus was both angry that we had been interrupted and guilty that we had been caught, and in Zack's bed, no less. So this didn't look good at all..

I was the first one that tried reason. "Zack...I'm sorry. We-" Zack didn't allow me to finish.

"YOU CAN'T BE _GAY_" His voice was full of disappointment and accusation. This made everyone in the room pause in confusion. No one really understood why _that_ revelation would anger him, Zack himself had shamelessly been lusting after another man for quite some time now. So what was his problem?

Zack was muttering to himself as he walked over to sit in the chair and rested his head in his hands, leaving Sephiroth standing half stunned in the doorway. Rufus, who up until now had been trying to hind behind me in his embarrassment, spoke up.

"Zack...um..you're gay..."

Zack looked up from his bowed posture. For the next few moments he just started up into my eyes, looking distraught, not saying a word.

I again opened my mouth to question my dear brother's behavior when he stood abruptly with his hands clenched in his hair.

"I WAS GOING TO BE THE BEST UNCLE EVER!"

What the Fuck?

"What?!" Rufus and I yelled in unison, Sephiroth looked at him incrediously.

"I was going to be a great Uncle! The kind that takes the kids places where their square of a father-" he said as he motioned toward me. I was a little offended but opted to only raise an eyebrow, "wouldn't take them! You know! Like Uncle Buck! But..better looking!"

Uncle Buck? Who the hell was that?! Was he someone in Jurassic Park or something?

The room fell into silence once more as Zack stood, breathing heavily. Thankfully, Sephiroth pulled himself into a semi- functioning thought process and grabbed Zack by the shoulder.

"I'm sure you can find some other child to torment every now and then. Come on Zack, we need to go."

Zack, who seemed immediately cured by the physical contact from Sephiroth, broke into a grin.

"You're right. I'm sure Tsengy and Rufus could adopt a kid anyway! See you two love birds later." he called as he led him and Sephiroth out of the room. That's it? He isn't angry anymore? What!? My brother was a Grade A nutcase!

I looked over to Rufus, who seemed to still be in a thoughtless stupor. "What...is wrong...with your brother.." he said slowly, contemplating each word. I was about to tell him that it was a hopeless mystery, and that thinking it would only waste one's life away, when Zack popped his head back into the doorway, wiggling his eyebrows.

"And I expect you to change the sheets before I get back."

I was about to tell him to fuck off when a stick of Deodorant came whizzing over my shoulder and stuck Zack in the face. I looked back to see Rufus sitting on the bed, looking more irritated than ever. Walking over, I pushed my now aching brother out of the doorway and locked the door.

I was planning on turning around and saying something along the lines of "now where were we?" when I was pressed against the door and Rufus' mouth was covering my own once more.

So it's official.

Rufus is a sexual deviant.

**-----end chapter-----**

okay, so, that's it for this one. I am pretty...unsatisfied with this chapter...ugh.

I haven't been in the writing mood lately, and I suppose it shows. I have been spending all of my time reading and neglecting my own work instead, hehehe.

Anyway, sorry about the wait and the lack of...goodness in this one? I don't know, I am just really disappointed with it. Feel free to tell me if you are too. Thanks for reading.


	11. Chapter 11

The usual disclaimer.

I own nothing...If I were creative, I would write a poem disclaiming all of this...however, I just can't. No characters are mine. If only, if only. Don't own JanSport, either. haha

**CHAPTER 11**

Tseng's POV

"He knew the whole time!" Rufus shouted shooting up in bed, waking and leaving me exposed to a very unpleasant draft. I groggily pulled him back down to me, fighting to ignore the fact that we were still lying naked in my little brothers bed, as well as trying my damnedest to avoid that picture of my mother and step-father on the night stand.

"He who? And what did he know now?" I finished with a yawn, smiling as Rufus pouted and tucked his head beneath my chin.

"Sephiroth." He stated. "He knew the whole time. That's why he kept giving me those looks after I told him about you...and he knew you felt the same way, didn't he? And he never said _anything_!"

Hm. Well that _was_ rather unhelpful of him...though really, I am thankful he decided not to interfere. From where I stand -lie,- with Rufus in my arms, pouting into my chest, I would have to say things have turned out ..quite nicely.

"So you _wanted_ him to tell us each other's greatest secrets?"

Rufus stopped short if mumbling about 'Stupid Sephiroth..' and stilled.

"No...I guess not. But still, he could have at least-"

"Rufus." I stopped him. He shifted and looked at me. "Shut up." I told him, kissing him and settling back down to sleep.

He shoved me softly before began to get comfortable when I felt him grab my arm and tense up. I was about to ask if he was all right when I looked up to see the door coming open.

"Zack, honey, I folded your laund-"

Oh god damn. How was I supposed to explain this?!

I watched her face carefully, readying myself for the screaming and the crying. But it never came. Oh no, instead, the strangest thing happened.

Rufus, who had been sitting on the edge of the bed, frozen and expected the worst, suddenly found him self caught in a hug.

"Welcome to the family, Darling!"

Rufus' eyes were the size of golf balls, and I'm sure mine weren't much better.

As nice ...nice was an understatement. As **wonderful** as my mother's reaction was, there were still 2 major problems with this scenario.

For starters, my mother just caught her 19 year old son and his underage, male best friend in bed together. And not just together, _together_ together.

And number two- My mother was hugging the life out of said underage, male friend...and he was still naked.

I repeat. My mother was snuggling my nude lover. And all I could do was stare.

It couldn't get any more awkward than this. Yea, nice try. Famous last words, Tseng.

It was then that I heard the heavy footsteps of what was most likely my step-dad making his way down the hall.

"You have got to stop babying him, honey. One day he is going to have to learn to fold his own underwear."

So I had approximately 7 seconds before all hell broke loose. I think it was time to get some pants on.

I must say, I located and got in those pants in record time. Didn't even half to get out of bed to do it. Before a humiliating death, it is best to recognize your small victories while you can, I suppose.

Just as I stood, half-dressed, from the bed with my usual expression and demeanor, my step dad came into the doorway.

To his credit- for a man who just walked into his son's room to see his wife embracing a naked boy, he took it surprisingly well. He just sort of stared blankly at her as she released Rufus from her 'welcoming' hug.

"Rufus and Tseng are together, Randy! I knew it would happen one day!" she squealed. All right, so I am officially creeped out.

Randy just shook his head and looked at me, perplexed.

"After Zack went over the deep end for your Sephiroth friend, I knew I still at least had _you._"

He sighed then. "Oh well. Maybe grand kids aren't all they're cracked up to be." He offered with a smile and an off-handed wave as he nodded his head at my mother.

"Let's go get a drink, Hun."

She gave us one last smile for taking off down the hall after Randy. From what little broken pieces that I could still make out of the conversation, they obviously had some sort of bet going on about this...How quee-...strange. Not going there right now..

"Okay, what in the hell was that?" I looked up to see a very disturbed looking Rufus staring at me in confusion. Sighing, I made my way over and sat down beside him,.

"Honestly, Rufus..I have no idea." It was the best answer I could offer him, and he dropped his head on my shoulder and made a little "hm" sound.

"...I still can't believe Seph knew and di-"

"Rufus...Get dressed."

---

Sephiroth's POV

"So this is your house, huh?" Zack asked as we pulled up in the driveway.

No Zack, I'm just taking you to a random house that I thought looked nice. What an idiot. He had been trying to make conversation with me the whole way, and I was going an amazing job of cutting him short.

"Yes." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, since the last few times I did that, he pointed out how "cute" it was.

I parked the car and got out before he could ask me something else that would have a painfully obvious answer. He hurried out of the car as well, joining me on the door step as I braced myself for the day-to-day nightmare that was my 'family.' Though judging by the locked door, no one else was home.

As I unlocked the door, I found it unsettling just how close he was standing to me, as well as how surprisingly quiet he was being. Perhaps he was just excited to be here. Probably. Tseng says he has been talking about this for like..a week now.

But when I spared him a side glance...he actually looked uninterested. Hmm...Maybe I had been mistaken. He looked awfully bored, if anything.

((Zack's POV))

I'm gonna go in Sephiroth's house! I'm gonna go in Sephioth's house! I'm standing on his front porch! I was in his car!

Oh God...This night would shape the rest of my life.

Of course, as excited as I truly was, I decided to take a new approach to winning the frozen boulder that was Seph. Look bored. Sound pre-occupied. Play hard to get, baby. Make him _beg_ for me.

"..Are you going to come in?" his voice broke me from my train of thought. I looked to see him staring emotionlessly in front of the open doorway, waiting for me to enter.

Okay...so maybe he wouldn't be begging for me anytime soon..Time to switch tactics.

I gave him a dazzling smile and extended my arms to the side. I tried to stop myself from saying it, I really did, but I was never any match for my own mouth.

"Ladies first." Goddammit.

I can't say the door being slammed in my face came as any surprise, but that sure as hell didn't make it any less unpleasant.

"Aw, come on, Seph!" I knocked at the door. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it! It's just habit, you know?" Good job, Zack, make him think you have a habit of referring to him as a woman. You're such an idiot...

After several minutes of meager pleading, it occurred to me that he was probably not going to answer the door. Unless of course...

I looked around and was delighted to find all the lights in the neighborhood on. Excellent. Everyone was home, probably enjoying a nice, quiet evening.

"SEPHIROTH, OH SEPHIROTH! ANGEL AMONG ANGELS! MY GREATEST LOVE WITH THE NICEST ASS! I SHALL DO AS THOU WISHES AND SLAY THE EVIL WIZARD WHO HAS FROZEN YOUR HEART! FOR IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT THAT-"

"You must be Zack.." I whipped around to see who identified me, and why. It was another silver haired man. He really did resemble Seph, except the hair style and the eyes...oh, and Seph was hotter, yes, definitely hotter.

"That would be me. Why?" Maybe Sephiroth had talked about me! How else would he know me?

"He said you were annoying.." I frowned. "And cute." I made a choking noise and snapped my attention up.

"What?!"

Seph said I was cute?! OH MY GOD. This was the best day of my li-

"I'm Xemnas. His cousin."

...oh...the coke junkie. I felt my spirits shatter...but just a little. After all, just because he was well known for his hallucinations, and therefore, an entirely unreliable source didn't mean I couldn't believe him, right?

"Wanna come in?" Xemnas asked, holding the door open for me.

"Certainly!" I was not going to make the same mistake twice. The fact that I was getting a second chance was a miracle. Xemnas was a God-send.

"So you like him?" he asked, letting his back slide off one of his shoulders, as I followed him down the hall, looking at framed pictures along the way. I wondered briefly if Seph had told him that or if he was just perceptive.

"You could say that..how did you-"

"I heard you yelling outside." he explained. "The whole 'Sephiroth greatest love, your ass is my temple' rant you had going." He sat down at the kitchen table, pulling his bag fully off and setting it down on top of it.

Feeling like I might be able to get some information out of him, I joined him. When he noticed me joining him he glanced up, looking a little annoyed and rolled his eyes. Short tempers must run in the family.

"I let you inside. Don't tell me I have to entertain you, too." He began removing pill bottles from his bag, glancing at the labels now and then as he set them out on the table.

Jesus god-damn Christ, this guy had a whole pharmacy in a JanSport book-bag.

"No, I don't need entertaining. Just wondering if you would like to maybe..tell me about Seph and aid me on my quest to gain his internal love."

He stopped suddenly and looked at me in clear disapproval. "_Eternal.._" Oh...right. Haha, 'internal love.'

"You know..Rufus comes here a lot."

Okaaay. Not sure what that had to do with anything. Other than provoking jealousy, of course. Oh, no way. Was he going to take that? Right in front of me?

I watched in shock as he popped a few pills. You had to be kidding me. This is the first he had ever met me!...Was I _that_ annoying?

"Sometimes I get bored " he paused to shake one of the bottles, frowning to find it empty. " and listen in."

Ohh...keep going.

"Few weeks ago Rufus was telling Seph 'bout how he liked...Tseng is your older brother, isn't he?"

I nodded and waited for him to continue. After tonight this news came as no surprise, but I did know that this would get interesting.

"Yea, thought so." It was then that he visibly shuttered, and quite violently at that. His convulsion was followed by an addict's smile.

"Then Seph said that he was going to.." he nodded off a little before straightening again. The pills were definitely kicking in...

"Going to say something that 'Rufus, you can never, and I mean _never_ tell Tseng. If he found out I would never hear the end of it.'" He did a fairly poor but comical impression of Sephiroth. Then I was caught in horror as I watched his eyes roll back in his head for a moment.

He was displaying all of the signs of an inebriated man approaching blackout. And I would be damned if he went out before I heard the rest.

"He said he might like...Passover is a brilliant holiday. I can not wait. I need to vacuum the furnace. Then prepare the-" and he was out...and I was about to rip out every hair on my head.

NO! What was he going to say?! Seph might like what?! Me? A new car? Jelly Donuts? Snow? It could be anything!

"Oh great..someone let you in." came the deep voice that I just couldn't get enough of. When I saw him leaning in the doorway I almost broke my neck on double take. It seems that while I was harassing his cousin, Seph was getting ready for bed.

I have never seen yellow pajama pants work _THAT_ good on anybody. And no one looks good in yellow...I could tell they were riding low too...if only that damn wife-beater weren't so long, maybe I could see some hip bone..Stupid shirt...though that looked pretty fuckin' nice, too.

Him standing in that door way, wearing that...it was enough to-

"Would you stop staring at me?" he broke in, sounding mildly perturbed. I laughed a little. "It's not my fault, maybe if you weren't so damn sexy. And since I don't see that changing anytime soon, you may just have to learn to live with it." I finished smugly, fairly pleased with myself.

He came forward then, and took the seat across from me. I tried to ignore the unconscious body next to me, I didn't want that interfering with the moment. He seemed to be in great thought before he looked up.

"What if I started picking my nose?"

I laughed genuinely as I though to myself in amazement. Sephiroth made a joke? A funny one, too!

When he made as to move his finger to his nose, I panicked. Even though I knew he would never _dare_ do it, I wouldn't risk shattering my perfect image of him.

"NO!" I reached out and snatched his hand.

"Don't ruin my vision on you! If my next dream of you involves you..'digging for gold' I will be highly...traumatized."

He smirked a little and to my sheer amazement, didn't reel away from my hand in anger or disgust. I could get used to this.

"What's up with you? You lock me out in the cold and now you're letting me touch you?" I had to ask. I prayed that my question wouldn't kill whatever mood he was in.

He looked at me for a minute, and to my disappointment, pulled his hand away. Dammit. I knew that I shouldn't have asked.

"I'm...happy."

I tried not to look off guard, as I didn't want to embarrass him and make him shut down.

"I'm happy for Tseng and Rufus."

He looked uncomfortable and I grinned.

"Me too, Man. Me too. I never knew they had a thing for each other."

Seph nodded. I'm sure he knew all about it the whole time. That's just who he was.

Thinking, a mischievous thought passed through my mind.

"Want to celebrate?"

He looked up at me, suspicion clear on his face.

"I think they are celebrating enough for themselves, right now." he replied curtly.

"Nonsense!" I said getting up and parading over to the fridge. Bingo.

I pulled out a bottle and inspected it. Yep, perfect for celebration. Vodka is king.

"We should celebrate, too! My brother and your best friend, together! Yet another thing binding us to one another!" I paused. "And I'm pretty damn pleased to be sitting here with you, in all honesty."

He glared at me. Not surprising. It was like a dog and a porcupine. No matter how much the dog loved the porcupine, he was still going to get the shit stabbed out of him. I smirked though. I knew how to get him.

"What, the great Sephiroth afraid to let someone know he's a total _lush_?" I taunted.

His scowl assured my victory.

"I am no lush, Zack."

"I love it when you say my name." I crooned over my shoulder as I poured a few glasses.

"Prove it." I finished, setting a glass down in front of him and sitting back down just to watch him slide it away.

"I am not so easily baited..." I could tell he had planned on saying my name again, but opted not to after my recent declaration. Damn.

I sighed.

"All right.." then muttering under my breath I added "..you fucking chicken.."

We both froze and I swear I heard him growl a little.

"Give me the fucking glass."

Grinning I handed it over. Too easy.

"Yes sir."

And here starts the single greatest night of my young life. Please, God, let me get laid.

----------

well that took a lot longer than it should have. sorry about the wait, i need to start staying on this better. next time we should see some of Demyx's amazing poetry, too!


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer-

oh, you know, the usual. I own nothing here except a decorative Santa and a broken diving board.

Not that we have that out of the way

---

A/N:

Okay guys..Sorry it's been taking me so long. I would make excuses about having to go to school and all, but I know that nobody wants to hear them.

So yea, Enjoy.

**CHAPTER 12**

Zack's POV

"So that's what happened?!" I tried to ask through my deep laughter, which is hard to do when you are half drunk.

The beautiful man across from me nodded unsteadily. Apparently, Seph was not much of a drinker –He had only had few glasses and he was already pretty sloshed.

"I knew you guys got into trouble, but I never got to know exactly _why_!" I tried to recount everything he had just told me.

Over the last hour I had been using Seph's uncharacteristic drunken chattiness to my full advantage. He had just been telling me the very story I had been dying to know for the last so and so odd months now. Just what Tseng actually did to get his room taken away from him.

I was positively over come with evil joy to know that _my brother_– my perfect, do no wrong, show no weakness, always mature, pinnacle of wonder, Brother...was a complete and total _idiot_.

"So let me get this straight." I started, shaking my head and trying to refrain myself from another bout of endless laughter. I had to clarify, to be completely sure about what happened so that I could use this to my full advantage.

"Tseng. My brother. Wutian. Lives in my house, Tseng?"

Seph nodded and I continued.

"Got drunk."

"Yes."

"Stole a car."

"Yes"

"Drove to some random house."

A nod.

"Climbed up. _Onto their roof_."

He raised a lazy finger. "With full intent of stealing their oversized, decorative Santa, Yes." Nodding in thought, I continued.

"...fell **off.** Of the roof–"

I had to pause my sentencing for a moment to double over and succumb to a fit of giggles.

"Fell on to what _used_ to be a diving board – snapped it."

And the giggles were taking over again.

"And..." I broke again, trying to regain my composure. "Fell in to the pool?"

Sephiroth let out a low chuckle, something that I, even in my buzzed state, would cherish in my memory forever.

"Actually, he didn't fall _in_ to the pool. He fell _on_ to the pool. They had a cover over it. Completely destroyed _that _though, trying to get off of it."

Oh, this was just too good to be true. What was even better was that the kids in the house thought it was Santa that they heard "skipping" on their rooftop, and ran out just in time to see a drunk kid take a graceless dive off of their house. Sephiroth said he had the honor of watching the whole thing from the passenger seat of the stolen car, and Rufus was asleep in the back seat.

Fortunately, as Tseng is..well, Tseng (and is just so wonderful -yea right), the family didn't press charges. He just had to do a shit load of house and yard work for them to pay off the damages. And of course the trauma caused to the children.

Sighing in content, knowing that I had enough blackmail on Tseng to last me until the age of 50, I cast Seph an appreciative glace.

He was leaned back in his chair, staring at nothing in particular with an almost lazy grin on his face. The smile was unbelievably out of place on him, but that didn't make it any less gorgeous.

I reached over the table and poured him another glass, though he certainly didn't need it.

"So tell me another story." I asked him. I was going to do everything in my power to keep this man talking. It was a rare pleasure and I wanted it to last, as well as learn anything and everything I could.

"About what?" he asked, taking an almost-neat sip from his glass. Smiling, I did the same, though since I wasn't all that concerned, mine was much sloppier. I wasn't going to drink much more, though, I fully intended in staying half (if not more) sober. I wasn't going to let any drunken decision on _mine_ ruin everything I had so far achieved. Plus- there was no way in hell I was going to risk waking up with no memory of this.

I shrugged, I didn't care what he talked about, so long as he was talking. "One about you, I guess."

He returned my shrug, another out of place gesture for him. "I don't know either"

He stood then, wobbling slightly.

"You tell me one." and with that he made a weaving path for his livingroom and plopped down on the couch.

"Come in here." he called out, motioning and looking in my general direction, which was still quite off. God, he was so drunk. Who knew that Sephiroth, of all people, would be a complete lush? I was pretty sure that even Cloud could hold it better than he could.

Oh well, it's not like I was going to tell anyone. I wasn't out to embarrass him or tell the world what he allowed me and me alone to know.

Pushing away from the table (that Xemnas had long ago slid off of, by the way) I was all to happy to oblige him, and made my way to the couch and sat down beside him.

"Me tell you a story, huh?" I drawled out, trying to think of something good. He titled his head over a little. To my disappointment it wasn't enough for it to be resting on _my_ shoulder, dammit, but instead, his own.

He grabbed a handful of his hair and began toying with it, seemingly hypnotized in the way that it flopped over as he turned his hand in various positions.

This was when I realized something.

I have called him hot. I have called him sexy. I have called him beautiful, perfect, gorgeous, breathtaking, or any other one that you could possibly think of. But never before had I been able to claim this:

Sephiroth was downright _adorable_.

So adorable that I felt a bit guilty at what I was planning to do.

As he continued to stare at his hair, now in rapture as he began twisting small strands of it, I dropped my arm down so it was around his shoulders and pulled him into me.

When I felt his head bump into my chest, I clenched my eyes and waited for him to jolt up and freak out any second now.

After about twenty seconds passing, and no immediate pain, I felt it was safe, and opened my eyes. I could no longer see his face, just the top of his head. I could tell he was still watching his endlessly long hair, though this time, the way it was draped over my legs.

I never thought I would be able to get this close to him (not without being in definite hazard, anyway), and I was really trying not to let it affect me. Though I must say...I was fighting a losing battle.

Especially when he dropped his unsteady hand to run his fingers along strands of his hair again. This time running his fingers over them and straightening them by pressing it against my thigh where most of the ends had collected.

Barbequed chicken, Zack. Meatloaf, Armageddon, cottage cheese. Tire jacks, bar stools, those books full of pictures of people with dog heads. Oh _GOD!_

Think of **_--anything--_ **other than Sephiroth touching you!

But as I said – Losing battle.

So instead of trying to prevent the inevitable and control my own body's reactions, I took to trying to get his attention off of my lap area instead. If he could just look some where else, maybe he wouldn't notice my..uh, excitement.

I reached around and tipped his chin up to pull his attention to my face. He had the most confused and unfocused stare, seemingly stumped that he couldn't play with his hair anymore.

Not for the first time, I noticed just how fucking amazing his eyes were.

This was – honest to God – _The best night of my life._

It really is hard to believe that someone so cold and so angry could be capable of looking so...Innocent. Angelic, even.

To think, all it took was a challenge and a little liquor.

Perhaps we could make a habit out of this.

Regrettably, I had become too lost in my own very cheesy internal dialog that it shocked me when I felt Seph's hand tracing the side of my neck. He was looking back and forth from my face and his hand, seeming very caught up with his task.

I couldn't believe my eyes (or my heart rate) when he actually began moving to lean his face into mine. When his eyes slipped closed and mine followed suit, I was absolutely sure of it.

This was the best night of my life.

I had always imagined kissing Sephiroth, but I had never thought it would make me feel this...Happy. Perfect. Like everything else in my life was just as it should be.

Everything was just so wonderf-

_SLUMP_

The dull sound was followed by a few quick observations.

1- I couldn't feel those perfect lips anymore

2- I also noticed the undeniable feeling of deadweight in my lap.

Painfully sliding my eyes open, I looked down in horror to see just what I was praying I wouldn't.

I can't fucking believe he blacked out! GODDAM IT! NO!

THIS WAS THE WORST NIGHT OF MY LIFE!

First Xemnas right before he could tell me what Seph said, and now Sephiroth...BEFORE I EVEN GOT ANY TONGUE! GAH!

Damn it.

Damn it.

_Damn it._

I was horny, and I was pissed, but as I looked down into my lap once more, I couldn't help but smile.

"Well Zack." I said aloud to myself, hoisting the both of us off the couch and into a semi-stable standing position.

"The world may have it out for you, but don't let it get you down. In the end, it will be _Oh_-Kay." Half carrying, half dragging, my very unconscious object of affection, I made our way down a hallway that would presumably lead to bedrooms.

I tried the first door on the right, but it opened to reveal a bathroom. Not exactly my planned destination, though I suppose that if it came down to it (which it shouldn't), it would do.

The first one on the left had a floor littered with papers and various objects, so I _knew_ that wasn't his room. He's too much a neat freak for that.

The second door on the left proved to be the lucky winner. My only real clue had been the stack of clothing sitting on the dresser. I recognized one (well, most) of the shirts as being his.

I was pretty proud of myself for that little deduction, as I was half wasted and the only light in the dark room was coming from the doorway I was currently blocking.

Beside me I heard Seph mumble something incoherent and shift a little in my hold. Strengthening my grasp, I pulled him into the room and dropped him onto the bed.

Staring down at him as he lay, dead to the world, I realized more clearly now than ever how I felt about him. Knowing that right now, I had more power over him than he could ever know.

I could do anything, _anything_ to him, and there was not a single thing in the world that could stop me.

But I would walk in to the center of a street, hold a gun to my head, and blow my face off before ever _considered_ to do that to him (or to anyone, for that matter).

Yes, looking down at him, I read my thoughts loud and clear.

I loved him.

Sighing, I bent over him and shoved him farther up the bed, enough so that I could pull the blankets over him. I had gotten quite good at tucking people in, as Cloud was known for curling up and going to sleep in the middle of a get-together. Although lately, Leon had taken it upon himself to be the resident Cloud-Care Manager.

I considered changing his cloths, but did not yet harbor the desire to die an early death. I _did_, however, decide that I should stick around. Just to be safe.

Because drunk people threw up.

Sometimes drunk people threw up and didn't wake up.

That's why, sometimes drunk people died.

And remember that gun scenario from earlier? Yea, I would do that before I let this happen either.

So with **no** small display of self control, I laid down _on top_ of the covers beside him – close enough to wake if he got sick, far enough to not be flayed alive when he awoke.

..Or so I was hoping.

Regardless of what would happen the following morning, I settled down and reflected on the evening. Seph locking me out..and interview with a pill head..Seph supposedly saying I was cute..him in pajamas...stories...leverage on Tseng...and of course, The Kiss (and unlike last time, I didn't have to steal it, it was _mutual_).

Oh yea. Looking at his sharp, unconscious face one last time, I knew it was safe to say it.

This Was. The best night of my life.

---

For those of you who aren't aware, there are many good ways to wake up, and many _many _bad ways to wake up. Awakening because your body notices a distinct lack of oxygen and a tight pressure on your throat should always qualify as a very **bad **way to wake up.

But like I said, that's just for those of you that didn't know.

My eyes flew open and were met with another pair, only green..and _much_ angrier. And I started to realize that I could no longer feel my lower half. If the look in Seph's eyes were any give away, he didn't much _want_ me to have a lower half.

A strangled (literally) "Good Morning" was the best I could do, while trying to tell myself not to panic. It was just a large, pissed-off man who probably had no memory of last night on top of me with a vice grip on my neck, right? Wrong. Panic was definitely starting to set it.

"Okeh..Seff...yer herting mee..." I pawed at his hands and tried not to gargle, but if I did I didn't notice because I was too busy fighting unconsciousness.

"I dint.. touch ya" there were some definite black holes forming in my vision, as well as a few minor explosions in my lungs.

And then, suddenly, it was gone. At first I thought that maybe I had passed out, but slowly I began to get my vision back, and could see Sephiroth sitting miserably next to me.

I heard a muttered apology from him as I rubbed at my throat while simultaneously trying to make my lower body function.

"S'alright, you were just scared is all."

I expected him be mad about that one, but all he did was slump over in the bed and clutch his head.

"I would kill you for this.." he started. "But..you know."

I knew he wanted to say thank you for not trying anything, but I also knew he would never allow himself to say it.

I patted his shoulder and he flinched and moaned in agony. Hang overs are no laughing matter.

He looked at me, trying to focus on my face with out throwing up, I assume.

"What time is it?"

I glanced over the clock. Hmmm...Guess we'll be late for school, since it was half over...

"1:46. Hope you didn't have anything important to do."

"I feel like shit... I am going to take a shower. If you want one.." he ignored my suggestive and hopeful expression. " there is another bathroom in the master bedroom, down the other hall." He stopped to concentrate on standing from the bed.

"Be ready to go by the time I get out."

Go? Where? Oh no.He couldn't mean..I groaned at him.

"You can't be...!" at his wince, I lowered my tone. "You can't be serious! We're going to school?"

Making his pained way out of the doorway, he stopped and threw a smirk over his shoulder.

"You mean you don't want to tell all of your friends that you slept with me?"

Motivation-Go.

Jumping up and standing tall (my lack of hangover was something I could tell he envied me for right about now), I offered him my best fake salute.

"I'll be ready, babe!"

---

After a quick shower I made my way back to his room to snatch some clean cloths. I figured I had earned them for being such a good boy and keeping my hands to myself all night. About 6 sets of clothing later, I settled on one of his white button ups and a pair of black pants that were, for obvious reasons, too long for me. And I would definitely be lying if I said I weren't enjoying be wrapped up in his personal belongings.

Grinning and giving myself a cheesy thumbs up in the mirror, I left the room and went back to the livingroom.

Some how or another, Sephiroth had beaten me, which didn't make much sense because I knew that with all that hair, his showers should take at least an hour. But hey, I've been wrong before, and this _was_ Seph. The man knew no limits. Except of course, when it came to alcohol. Haha.

Zack:1

Sephiroth: 0.

I smiled and leaned over the couch as I watched Sephiroth compulsively make sure the knots on his shoes were tied in an identical fashion. He seemed like he was the kind of person who'd rather die than half-ass something. I wondered if there was anything he _didn't_ do with an acute accuracy and an obsessive thoroughness.

"You're one of those people who actually scrub behind their ears, aren't you?" I asked him.

Zack: 2

Sephiroth: 0.

I was on a roll.

He paused, seemingly satisfied with his shoelaces for the moment. He turned to me with a slight smirk. "You're one of those people who wash your ass and face with the same rag, aren't you? And usually in that order."

Zack: 2

Sephiroth: 8475.2

---

Cloud's POV

Swallowing and gathering my strength, I pushed open the door and entered the room where I could _quite possibly_ die.

Day two of poetry club, and there was no getting out of it. Great.

just to be safe, I broke out my phone and sent Leon a quick message. Couldn't leave with out saying goodbye, you know.

I walked in and took my seat next to Demyx, who was proudly stacking some papers on his desk.

"Did you do your assignment?" he asked me, still trying to get the papers' edges exactly even.

Digging through my bag, I pulled out my own hefty stack and nodded.

"It took me 6 hours to actually do all of this...but, 7 poems and 4 sonnets Right here." then a dark thought entered my mind.

"I swear to God, if it was just a bluff and he doesn't really take this up...I will-"

"You will _what_, Mr. Strife." Oooh shit..

Well Cloud, this may very well be then end of the road for you.

Giving one last glance at Demyx's horrified expression, I turned in my seat to gaze up at my least favorite teacher.

"..Commend you for your brilliant but cruel strategy?" For once, my stars were aligned as Mr. Vincent rolled his eyes and trudged over to his desk.

Leaning against it he faced us all with a merciless scowl. Even if you had never met him before, you knew you were looking at one miserable bastard. One miserable bastard who would just as soon eat you as he would...would...well I used up all of my brain power writing these damn assignments last night. I wasn't in the mood for creative sayings.

"How wonderful of you all to show up again." he started in the tone that screamed the exact opposite. It isn't like he didn't basically threaten us all yesterday if we didn't..

"If you could all please pass your work to the front, keeping only one with you."

It was fairly easy for me to pick which one I wanted. There was one particular poem that I wrote that even **_I_** had to just say "Damn." Yea. You could say I was pretty proud of it.

Looking over at Demyx, I could tell he wasn't having as easy a time.

" I don't know which one to keep!" he said, scouring through his pile.

"Anytime now, children." came the impatient voice of Mr. Vincent. I didn't have to look up to know he was glaring at us. Fearing for both of our lives, and really just not in the mood to be slaughtered, I snatched one from his pile and passed the rest up the row.

"Hey!" he whined, looking at the poem that I had picked for him. I guess my random selection proved successful, because he looked awfully happy.

"I love this one!"

"Yea, you're welcome.." I answered, looking down at my poem again. I still couldn't believe how well it turned out.

"If I could have your attention, for just one moment before we begin reading aloud." he coughed behind his hand. If I didn't know any better, I would say he was hiding a smirk, and a nasty one at that.

"It was brought to my attention that some of your fear that your efforts were wasted." he directed the last part in my direction.

God that man hated me...

"And I just though I would let you know" he held up the class' papers in his hand. "That you were probably right."

And with that he took our work and gave it a good rip down the center and dropped it into the nearest waste basket.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I WORKED FOR HOURS ON THAT! I didn't get to sleep until one o-clock! Some of the kids around me groaned, while others tried not to cry.

Giving the class one last malicious grin, he took to his usual frown. Can you say Bi-Polar?

"Now everyone trade your papers around. I know some of you are shy and I don't want to wait 10 minutes while you stand in front of the class trying not to piss on yourself."

Not wanting to waste Mr. Vincent's obviously precious time, the class worked together and passed out our remaining poems in record time.

"Psssst. Cloud!" I heard Demyx let out next to me. I looked over to him.

"This one is dumb..I don't want to read it."

Looking down to see how I faired I realized in horror that I had received my own paper back. So much for efficiency. Oh well, it wasn't like anyone else would know, so I didn't have anything to worry about.

"Who will go first. Ah, Ms. Lockheart. I do believe this whole thing was rather your idea, why don't you start us off?"

I saw her auburn eyes widen considerably as she cast a glance around the room. Standing from her desk, she looked at Mr. Vincent with a pleading gaze.

"Please, sir. Don't make me read this."

"Read." came his only reply.

"But! Sir! This is hardly mature! It's–"

"Ah, insubordination in the classroom. Shall I start your referral immediately?"

"No no! I will read it...sorry sir.." I could tell she wasn't that sorry, inside she was pretty pissed off.

"All right...well...here it goes." Taking a deep breath, she wet her lips and began to read.

"A sploosh! A Splish!

I'm a big fat fish!

I bubble and I breathe no air

I want to live but you don't care,

As long as you have sushi

I am doomed.

Like a 'fish out of water,' you say,

but me-oh-my – I am.

I flounder and I flail and flop

But still I end up in your pot

A-bubblin' and a-boilin' all the way."

Her cheeks were now tinted with red as she hastily sat back down and the class tried not to laugh.

..What...was that? Some of those words weren't even real!

I was about to comment about the writer being a real case when I saw Demyx grinning like a madman.

Oh god.._He_ wrote that.

"That was yours?" I knew, but I had to ask.

He looked awful proud "Yep!"

"Excuse me, but incase you didn't notice, we are having anonymous readings, and I am not in the mood for two punk-ass kids to disrupt my class. If you two would go next.."

It was definitely not a suggestion, or a request. It was a threat in disguise.

After having a little staring match with Demyx over who would have to go first, he gave up and stood.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, he started.

"Roses are red

And so are his eyes

violets are blue– "

Demyx paused when he heard a squeal break out from the front of the room.

"...he has really hot thighs.

Mr. Vincent you're so sexy!

Please say you love me too!"

Collapsing into his seat in misery, he opened his mouth again.

"Mr. Vincent, I think someone in your class is stalking you."

HA. I looked up to see our heartless teacher staring blankly at the poem on my friends desk. It didn't take a genius to know who wrote it. This was definitely the work of Yuffie Kisaragi, who was _always_ talking about her very Un-secret crush on the man. I felt sorry for him, despite myself, and I watched him close his eyes and take a few deep breaths.

"Ms. Kisaragi." he started. In a very dangerous tone, might I add. "I have to say, I have gotten very sick of this. If I have to hear one more thing in regards to your sickening attraction to me, I will be forced to have you expelled for sexual harassment." He paused. "And trust me, it won't be that hard." She visibly slumped in her chair. Serves her right for liking the devil.

Shaking his head to clear the disturbing poem from his mind, he looked over to me.

"Your's will be the last one we read. I have no more patience for the day."

I nodded and tried my best not to smirk in Yuffie's direction. Well...I guess I should start. Just remember, Cloud, no one knows you wrote it.

"If her face launched a thousand ships

And burnt the topless towers of Ilium

Heaven was in her lips

She was clad in the beauty of thousand stars

For her, Troy fell

For you, may the world fall

The stars would taint your beauty

The Heavens not worthy of your lips"

As I finished I tried to keep a straight face. Mr. Vincent actually looked contemplative.

"I think he liked that one" Demyx whispered from beside me.

"It would appear" Vincent started, "That someone in here actually shows some promise. If you're lucky, Mr. Strife, reading that rubbed off on you, as I am sure your own work could use some help."

Ouch? But then again...Not ouch. Because he liked it! And he only said so because he didn't think it was mine!

"All right. Like I said. I'm done for the day, I can't stand to be around you worthless kids any longer. Leave the classroom. Only two poems for homework tonight, and if you even try to pull your work out of the trash, I will cut your hands off."

And with that, he left the room.

What an asshole. When I had him for art class tomorrow, I would have to be sure to spill lots of paint on the floor. Maybe if I do I could write "Y LUVS V."

Then he would blame Yuffie for it, and get her out of our classroom. I was sick of her always stealing my coloring pencils...

Standing up from my desk and walking through the door, the last thing I saw was Demyx fishing through the garbage.

_Idiot._

Now to find Zack and see what is so "urgent" than he has been texting me about for the last 2 hours.

Guess I will be stopping by his house.

---

Leon's POV

"GET OUT OF THE ROAD, YOUR DUMB ASS!" I affectionately gave the man the finger as I hollered at him. Some people just didn't know how to drive, you know?

Working my way back up to 60 in a 25, I heard my phone beep.

Being the astounding driver that I was, I figured I could drive and check the message at the same time. Not too many people were on the road anyway.

It would appear that I had a few...hmm...Guess I didn't hear it earlier.

The first one was from Cloud.

_**If I die, I just wanted you to know that you are a great friend. Please tell Zack he is stupid and invite Roy Jones Jr. to my funeral. That would be cool.**_

Okay...I tried not to smile, but Cloud was...well, I couldn't help it.

Next. It was from Zack.

_**I SLEPT WITH SEPHIROTH! I COULD DIE HAPPY.**_

Decided I would ignore that one, because I really didn't want to know.

Time for the last one. If only I had known what it said, and I wouldn't have read it. It was another from Cloud.

**_Hey. Well, I lived. Yay. Apparently Zack has some urgent secret to tell me, and he wants me to come over. You should come over too. See you there._** **_By the way, if you are driving while you check this, you need to get your head out of your ass and pay attention to the road._**

Bastard...

Did I really want to go over there? I mean, I already knew this "secret." I guess he couldn't help it and had to tell SOMEBODY. Maybe I could just say I never got the message? Sighing, and flashing my brights at some idiot that screamed for me to slow down, I changed lanes and headed for Zack's house.

I need new friends.

--End chapter--

Well that took longer than I though it would.

I have a nice little disclaimer/accrediting for Cloud's poem. A friend of mine took part of an already well known ( I had never heard it, and I don't know who it is by) and changed it. I think she wrote at least the last 5 lines of it herself. I could be wrong, either way, the poem isn't mine and some of it (If not most of it) is hers.

By the way, she has a nice little story (it's an AU Cloud/Zack) of her own called "Life has the Tendency to Just Suck that Way" if you would like to go check it out. Her pen name is SleighBells. Hehe, please excuse the shameless plugging.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, and as always I will say "I will try and start updating more frequently" though we all know that is a crock of crap! Haha. Have a nice night/day.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaiming! Yay!

I do not own anything, the characters and such belong to their respective corporations/makers.

_Okay – So._

It took me long enough, Yet again. I do have an terrible tendency for procrastination, what can I say? Though you may or may not be thrilled to know that thanks to a few wonderful friends, I actually have a **_PLOT in mind now_**!! No more aimless writing!! Yes! Thanks to the ever-amazing Laura for sitting down with me and wracking our brains, trying to work things out to a semi-sensible form of a plan. Also, thanks to Lauren, who tried very hard to think of something with us. But since we ended up solving it without her (Hehe-no offense Lauren-you weren't there), I thank her just for existing.

And now for the

**_WARNING WARNING WARNING:_ **

Not just yet, but in a certain undisclosed amount of time– Aerith is going to enter the lines. Aerith fans--- _It won't be pretty_.** I'm sorry, but. That's just how it's got to be.** So if you love the darling Flower Girl in pink, either set aside your love for the greater good, or turn away. (this means that if you feel like complaining about it...please don't. You now know good and well this will happen, and way ahead of time, too.)

This being said–read on.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**CHAPTER 13**

Leon's 

"I slept with Sephiroth!" Zack squealed, having gathered Cloud and I in his room.

Rolling my eyes, I leaned back against the doorway. This was not news to me. I don't know why I had to be here... I wonder what Cloud thinks.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Wincing a little, I saw Cloud to my right, jaw dropped, eyes bulging. Exactly how I pictured him reacting. Aw. Poor, stupid, little Cloud.

Grinning, Zack plopped back onto his bed.

"I went over to his house work on our English project...and well, I challenged him to drink with me."

You have got to be kidding me..._That's_ how he did it? I shifted my gaze over to him.

"So basically" I started, really just aiming to piss him off, "you got him drunk and took advantage of him."

He looked at me with his eyes squinted, like he had no idea what I was talking about. Idiot.

"No I di-"

Cloud turned on me, cutting Zack off.

"Leon! You aren't surprised?!" Ah, he doesn't know that I knew already. Poor kid, left in the dark all the time.

"He sent me a..text message at school.." I mumbled. I felt dumb for saying 'text.' I'm not sure why.

And now he was gaping. I fought the urge to shake my head. So cute and stupid.

"So why didn't _you _tell _me! _We could have planned to hide him sooner!"

Zack looked even more confused than before. He finally decided to butt his way back into the conversation that he had been completely cut out of.

"What a minute. What? Hide me?"

Cloud quickly crossed the room to properly chew Zack out. And smack him on top of the head.

"Because, you jackass! Did you _hear_ yourself?! You got him drunk and raped him!"

Zack shot up off of the bed.

"WHAT!?" he pointed dumbly at Cloud. "I _never_ said that!"

That was when we heard the door swing open like a hurricane blew through. Only it was much worse than a hurricane, for Zack anyway. It was Tseng.

And Zack was fucked.

"Tseng! You don't-" Whatever Zack was going to say died instantly as Tseng was on him in a heartbeat.

"YOU DID WHAT!? I'LL** KILL** YOU!" Zack was currently having his head beat into the floor with Tseng's hands wrapped around his neck. I think it was time to get out of the door way and help out here. Yea, he was turning purple. Cloud and I definitely needed to step in.

Each of us launched ourselves over and picked a side. With a relative amount of difficulty, we managed to pry the enraged Wutian off of our mentally retarded friend. Not that we didn't think he deserved a _little_ bit of punishment.

As soon as he was free, Zack picked himself up, took one look at his captured brother, and booked it for the hall.

"Let go of me." came the chillingly calm tone of our momentary prisoner. Now what do we do with him? You didn't just let a rabid dog lose because it _looked _friendly. Not that Tseng looked friendly by any leap of the imagination.

"Not until you aren't going to kill him." Glaring at me from the corner of his eyes, he stopped struggling.

"I'm not going to kill him." Cloud and I shared a glance, silently debating the honesty of this statement. Cloud seemed to be leaning towards yes.

"I guess we cloud-"

"I'm just going to rip his throat out." and with that, Cloud was shoved violently into me, his forehead making swift contact with the bridge of my nose, and Tseng took off after his brother. Who ever says that a paper cut is the most painful thing in the world can go fuck themselves. I was dying.

After staring numbly at my destroyed nose, and going cross eyed while I was at it, I figured we should go try and help Zack again.

Somewhere through my own cussing and Cloud's rattled apologies, a swift banging could be heard.

Curiosity outweighing my own pain, Cloud and I filed out into the hallway. Tseng was standing in front of the bathroom door, his face resting slightly against it.

"Open the door, Zackary." came his stern voice.

"_Are you kidding me?!_" Zack almost laughed. Almost. " Do you think I'm stupid?! Don't think that I didn't hear what you said about tearing my throat out! You want to rip me apart! Uh-uh! " We could hear Zack moving stuff hastily around through the door.

As Tseng's eyes slid closed, he was enveloped with an over all menacing aura. Slowly, he patted his pockets, trying to calm himself.

"All right then Zack." Turning, he walked into their room once more.

Cloud looked at me in question. "He gave up?"

"I dunno–"

It took everything I had not to appear startled when I heard the shattering coming from the inside of the room.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Zack screamed, horrified from the inside of the bathroom.

"IS HE BREAKING MY STUFF!?"

You have to be joking. I am _so_ glad that I have never had any siblings. I would be forced to kill them...now that I think about it, I would act a lot like Tseng. But I will never say _that_ out loud.

"The longer you stay in there, the more I am going to break." was Tseng's cool response. I could almost see Zack pressed against the door, trying to hear him. Dying to know what Tseng was doing, having no idea what he was breaking.

"I'M NOT COMING OUT, TSENG. NOT UNTIL YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME. JUST LEAVE MY STUFF ALONE"

Tseng leaned his head out of the door, smirking at the bathroom door.

"Well I hope you didn't want those pictures."

"WHA?!"

As Tseng ducked back into the bedroom, Zack came tearing out of the bathroom...What the hell?! He brought the shower curtain with him!?

Running full speed past a very amused Cloud and myself, he pounced into his room, and we heard the thud.

Making no move to look into the bedroom, I turned to Cloud.

"Five bucks says he thought he could get Tseng under that thing."

Glancing in the room, Cloud shook his head.

"Yea...but he missed."

Holding back a chuckle, I directed us to stand in the door way. Far enough to stay out of danger, but close enough to have a clear view. If our best friend was going to get slaughtered, we should at least have the decency to watch...I think.

Tseng was slowly backing Zack into a corner. I've watched a lion do this on the Discovery Channe. It never ends well for the Zebra. Ever.

"Before you kill me at least here me out! I did not _touch_ Seph! I swear! You can call him and ask! I only said that I _slept_ with him! Literally– SLEPT! As in: went to sleep! I even laid _on TOP _of the blankets! I didn't even take my _shoes_ off!"

The zebras on TV never got a chance to plead their case. The lion usually mauled first, asked questions later. I suppose Tseng was a little more merciful than the lion, and Zack a little more tactful than the zebra. Just a little.

Turning sharply, Tseng was now glaring directly at Cloud...because obviously this was _his_ fault. Yea.

Cloud shifted a little. "Mis-communication?" he offered with a shrug. I rolled my eyes. Good God. These people...

Tseng obviously felt the same. He slid his eyes closed again and spoke to Zack without turning back to him.

"I apologize Zack. I should have gotten the full story from you first." and with that, he turned and started out into the hallway, but paused and called back with a smirk.

"However, should Sephiroth want to beat the living hell out of you, I will not protest." and he was gone.

"You are such a moron." Cloud and I said in unison. Stopping to stare at one another skeptically first, we turned back to Zack.

He seemed unaffected, though. Now that he was out of danger.

"Whatever. I lived...though this is the second time today I have been strangled..." Grinning he took his place on the bed once more.

"So who wants to hear more abou–"

He eyes fell to the other side of the room, and the smile wiped right off of his face.

"I LOVED THAT LAMP! TSENG! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU."

"ZACK! DON'T THREATEN YOUR BROTHER!"

Came the feminine call from what sounded like the kitchen.

"Sorry Mom...Wait!." he looked at us incrediously. "She yells _now?! _Where was she two minutes ago?! When I was getting assaulted?! Ugh!" with that he grabbed his hair and fell backwards and spread out.

I looked at Cloud, who just shrugged his shoulders and sat down on the floor, careful to avoid shards of lamp.

He offered a smile to our distraught friend.

"I want to hear about it."

Sighing, I sat down on the floor. Judging by Zack's returning smile, we would be here for a while.

**

* * *

**

* * *

**A/N:**

...okay, sorry about this, but I fell into a deadly trap. If you think this sounds like it was just kind of cut off, well– you're right. I can't start a chapter, walk away, and pick up a few days later. Even with this knowledge, I tried it anyway. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

It can't be done. So this was supposed to be a lot longer, but...Yea.

The next chapter should come a lot sooner though, if that's any consolation.

Until next time, if any of you are still bothering.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer- so I don't own and of the FF characters and stuff, and I don't own Shell Silverstein's poem.

Again- a thanks To Laura/Lauren for helping me get a goal in mind, and thanks to Sam for being my living spell check.

A/N

can you believe? Two in one day?? Haha, well this was supposed to be the other half of the last one, so whatever.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 14**

Tseng's

"Remind me why I have to be here again?" Sephiroth asked for the third time since his arrival. And for the third time, I ignored him.

I love abusing my privileges as best friend. Had I been anyone else, I am sure I would have probably been pinned to a wall and fully interrogated by now. Besides, if I told him why he was here before his presence was accounted for, he wouldn't sick around. Heh Heh..I'm such a crappy friend.

"Rufus." Rufus looked up from the kitchen table where we were all seated to Seph, who seemed to be trying a new method.

"I realize it may put a dent in our relationship, but if Tseng doesn't answer me soon– you're lover or not, I will be forced to kill him."

Looking over at me, Rufus grinned. He knew why we were here, and he was less than pleased. I am sure he wouldn't mind if Seph beat me up a little right now.

"That's okay." he said. "I'd forgive you."

Great, now they are going to team up on me.

Hurry up, Randy! My step father seriously needed to get here soon, before they got tried of sitting around and left. Once _he_ asked Sephiroth to help him, Seph would have to comply. He'd be stuck with it.

From the other room I heard the front door close. Please be Randy, don't be Zack or any of his stupid little friends that don't knock– something that annoyed me greatly.

Walking around the corner, the new comer did indeed reveal himself to be my Step-Dad. Yes.

He came in and hung his jacket on the back of one of the chairs.

"Ah, you brought me some good help, I see." he said, eyeing Sephiroth. "We were needing some muscle power. I hear you are pretty impressive."

As Seph let this sink in, he glared at me as Randy continued.

"And you Rufus...hmmm...Well. How do you feel about supervising? No offense, of course. Just don't want-ya to get hurt."

Rufus beamed and nodded. I'm sure he was just happy he wouldn't have to get dirty, which was usually a worry when you took to wearing all white as he did.

"And what, pray tell, will we be assisting you in?" Sephiroth cut in, ever so politely.

Randy grinned as he grabbed another jacket, a much more abused looking one, off of the back of the door.

"We'll be taking down a few trees is all. I'm going to need some help with that, and of course dragging away all the bigger limbs that may fall. You know, your basic yard work."

Yea. Basic. Pulling trees out of the ground is your average, run-of-the-mill chore after all. Raking- now that was exotic...anyway.

He stopped and leaned down enough to see through the half drawn blinds of the kitchen window.

"And we should probably start soon if he want to get anywhere before dark." He grabbed a hat off of the hook as well, and moved for the door.

"Meet 'cha out back in about fifteen, okay gang?"

Not waiting for an answer, he headed outside.

"Okay, gang." Seph mocked, clearly put off that he was expected to perform free labor. I'm sure he really didn't mind, he just liked being difficult. I rolled my eyes.

"He's 43. He's supposed to say things like that."

Rufus, being the only one who looked quite pleased, stood from the table.

"Why wait fifteen minutes?" he said, smirking. "Let's go, 'gang.'" he seemed to tack on the last part as an after thought, clearly for Seph's benefit. I'm sure it didn't go unnoticed. Unappreciated is a different story, however.

Grumbling, Sephiroth pulled himself out of his chair as well, me following.

"You guys are bastards."

------------------------

"Come on! Last limb!" called Rufus, who was happily seated in a lawn chair located in the middle of the backyard, Randy standing next to him.

While cutting down the last tree, things didn't go quite as we planned them to. This resulted in a huge ass limb snapping off and crashing on to the roof of our house.

And so here we are, me and Seph, standing on top of the house, sweating like hostages trying to hoist this damn limb up. To make matters worse, it had rained earlier in the day, leaving the shingles slick enough to be extremely dangerous, but try enough to stick cut the shit out of you if you dragged on them. Between the two of us, we had about 3 _un_-busted knuckles.

"Fucking chimney..." I heard Sephiroth growl out under his breath.

"_Fucking_ chimney." I parroted, nodding in agreement with him whole heartedly.

And it was true. If it weren't for that damned thing, we could have rolled this stupid limb off the right side of the roof 30 minute ago. But no. There it is. Perfectly content in being dead in the way of everything.

So this meant that Seph and I had to _carry _this goddamn thing, walking it _around_ the chimney, _then_ roll it off the roof. Though upon reflection, rolling it off wasn't going to work. Because while it was rolling of the edge, it would snap the eaves...Great. We get to **throw** it off. Wonderful.

After about 15 _very_ painful minutes, we were almost done. It wasn't TOO bad, with Randy yelling out directions, when to watch our step. Things like that. Me and Seph were exhausted, yes, but we were doing just find.

That is, until Lord _Dumbass_ had to show up.

"Hey Rufus!" I heard Zack call. "What are you doing?" He had just walked around the side of the house. One of those we could see him but he couldn't see us type of deals. Usually I would take advantage of this, and use it to my advantage, but then again– usually I wasn't holding a 300 something pound log.

"Move, you idiot!" I screamed at him. We **finally** had the log where we needed it and were about to toss it off, but Zack was right in the way. Just like that damned chimney– Of course, I always had known Zack to be the intellectual equivalent of a stack of bricks anyway.

"Oh! Hey! Sorry!" he apologized and he scampered out of the way.

"You guys need any help?"

"We're Fine. Zack." Seph groaned out. We were on a fairly sensitive part of the roof, so we had to be EXTRA careful not to drop the limb and risk crashing through the ceiling. Which would not only, in all likelihood, kill us, but my bedroom was where we would fall. And I didn't want my room ruined, even if I wasn't allowed in it right now.

"You sure? Looks pretty heavy!" Okay, I am holding a fucking three-hundred pound hunk. Of. Tree. And my little brother is pointing out the obvious. I think I'm going to kill him.

"WE'RE FINE, ZACK!" Unlike me, yes, but it was necessary. Of course, mid-scream I managed to lose my footing. Dropping the log instantly, I tried to grab a hold of something, anything to keep myself from toppling off of the roof. After all, this would be the second one in 4 months. That's nothing to brag about.

So the only thing I was able to grip was, of course, the worst possible thing I could have gotten a hold of. I grabbed Sephiroth, who being left alone holding that damn limb, had **zero** balance by the time I got to him.

I was about to experience the most painful moment of my life.

Fortunately, we only have a one story home, so the fall, while certainly unpleasant, was nothing fatal. After a few moments of lying stiffly on my back next to and equally stiff Seph, the shock started to fade off.

_I fucking hate mud._

"You have to be...kidding me..." I heard Seph moan out next to me. With a groan, he rolled over, disgusted with himself being covered in mud.

"Break anything?" he asked in a breathy voice, trying to refill his lungs after the fall.

"No." I answered after wiggling all of my limbs. "You?"

"Just your roof."

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" My mother screamed, running out of the house to join the crown I hadn't noticed gathering around us. My step-father looked slightly amused, knowing that we were all right, and a panicking Rufus and a sheepish looking Zack were hovering above us.

"What if they have brain damage?!" I heard Zack whimper, but chose to ignore him in favor of hearing out my mother.

"I was in the hallway when something crashed through the bathroom ceiling!"

Oh. So I had misjudged- we weren't over my room. Well...I had that going for me.

Through all of the jumbled hysterics and concerns, I managed to make eye contact with Seph. A very mud covered Seph.

It was in that freezing, filthy moment that we both realized the same thing.

We destroyed the bathroom.

Only one bathroom left.

One Shower...Two of us.

I tried to pull myself up as fast as I could, only to be shoved down hard as Seph snickered and took limped off in a blur of brown clotted silver.

Growling, I stood and stalked off after him after reassuring my parents, love, and dip-shit brother that I was okay.

Rufus and Zack, knowing that Seph and I were about to go at it, followed me into the house. They knew entertainment when they saw it.

We got inside in time to hear the shower water start flowing. Smirking, I made my way over to the bathroom door.

"I don't think so." I said to no one in particular. If he could play dirty, I could too. And I was the _king _of playing underhanded.

Making quick work of the sorry excuse for a lock, I barged into the bathroom. Ripping back the shower curtain, I grabbed a very surprised Sephiroth and hauled him out of the shower and out of the bathroom. Through the door I could hear Zack's unmanly squeal of delight, followed by two sets of laughter.

Satisfied that I had locked him out with no form of clothing, in the middle of my house with my family, no less, I stepped into the still running shower.

Seph was right; I am a bastard.

It was then that I heard a soft knock, followed by an equally soft apology.

"I'm sorry Tseng. He made me do it."

It was Rufus, and I felt a little but if dread building up in my spine. I was just starting to shake it off when everything went black, and the hot water turned to ice.

That fucking Prick. He sent Rufus after the circuit breakers. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was very upset that I was now going to have to reset my clocks.

Trying not to snarl, I violently twisted the water off and felt around for a towel. Tying it around my waist, I left that bathroom with every intention of beating the hell out of my best friend.

"You piece of Shi-"

"MY CARPET!" Seph and I had just dropped into fighting stances when my mothers exclamation distracted us.

"Huh?" I asked, in a very undignified manner. Looking around, I realized that the whole 15 seconds each that Seph and I spent in the shower had done _nothing_.

If anything, it made the mud worse. It was much more watery now. So here we are, soaking wet, and dripping filth all over my mother's white carpet. Me in a towel and Seph with only his hair for cover. Somewhere in the back of my mind, that same voice that threw a fit over the clocks began reciting Shell Silverstein.. '_My Hair grows to my toes. I don't wear no cloths. I wraps my hairs around my bares and down the road I goes_.'

And that was how we ended up standing naked in my backyard, freezing our asses off while Randy sprayed us with the hose.

Rufus was back in that damn lawn chair (Zack now had his own and was sitting next to him), watching and laughing his heart away as Seph and I (embarrassingly enough) clung together, trying not to enter cardiac arrest.

Later we would all have to vow to never speak of this again.

Somewhere to the left, I heard the neighbors let out a few catcalls. I am not sure who, because I refused to look.

Great.

Just Great.

...So...Cold...

---------------

"OH MY GOD! HAHAHA! You should have _seen_ yourselves!"

Zack erupted into another endless bout of laughter at our expense, which unfortunately- Rufus joined in on.

"Zack, Please. Siblicide is not something I wish to partake in at the moment."

I heard Seph snort in laughter.

We were both currently wrapped in every blanket we could find, which sadly, wasn't that many. Most of them were now taped up to cover the gaping hole in what used to be the spare bathroom.

With our two entire blankets, Seph and I had decided that we had been exposed and humiliated so many times today, that what was one more thing?

So there we were, the four of us, all curled up in one big human mess on Zack's twin sized bed.

Shameful, yes, but we didn't particularly care at the moment.

At first, I couldn't believe my _eyes_ when Sephiroth allowed Zack to cuddle up next to him. But when I realized that I couldn't feel half of my body due to the cold, I understood perfectly. Especially as I shamelessly joined them.

If you were to ask me in a few years if it was weird to lay with 3 other men– one your brother, one your brothers..something...and one your own lover...I would have to say: yes.

But...I didn't care. And, well..

Same goes as before.

We would all have to take a vow of silence later.

We all froze when someone knocked at the door, but no one had the heart to move.

"Hey boys, Sephiroth's uncle is on the phone!" Mom called through the door.

Without so much as moving Sephiroth (for he recognized a good thing when he had it), Zack managed to stretch out and grab the phone. "Got it, Mom!" he yelled as Seph picked up.

"Hello?" Seph asked awkwardly, half of his face was pressed up against Zack's stomach, which wasn't helping with pronunciation.

As his uncle continued to talk, Sephiroth's face grew darker and darker. I could only hear a little bit through the phone.

All I could catch were the words "Father," leave," and "3 days."

"You okay?" Rufus asked, pulling his arm from me and touching Seph's shoulder.

Ignoring him, Sephiroth finally spoke into the phone.

"I'll be home in ten minutes." With that he hung up and handed Zack the phone.

"I've got to go home." his voice left no room for question as he pulled himself from our warmth huddle and swiftly left the room.

"What was that abou-" Zack stopped to wince as the door slammed shut. He had that kicked puppy look on. So he wasn't the only one who had a terrible feeling about this.

"I don't know.." I admitted, reaching up to pat his stomach.

"I'll call him later though."

Zack nodded and tried to get comfortable again. As I watched the headlights reflect in to the room, I got the sick feeling that I wasn't going to talk to Sephiroth again.

* * *

So! There it is. The beginning of a plot. I am so excited, hahaha, so– What do you think? 


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer..:...:...:

Psssh. Like you don't have this memorized by now.

Q: Who is Japanese, rich, and the creator of Final Fantasy?

A: Not the author of this story.

Sorry. Disclaimers really just get boring after a while. Thought I would spice it up a little...Anyway. I don't own it. Don't sue me.

I also don't own Oprah or those conjoined kids. Or 'the' WolfMan.or helter skelter.

A/N:

Well then! Guess what! I think I have found a reason to get more updates up sooner! Me and my wonderful buddy, Laura (penname: ToolittleToolate) are planning to co-write this...'series' of chronological (with any luck) drabbles I suppose, all based on a massive, immature prank war between the Soldiers and the Turks. So in a screaming desire to get along to writing that, I have to hurry and get this story over with. So yea. Keep your eyes open if you're interested.

--

**Chapter 15**

Rufus

"Where is he?" came a voice from beside me, asking the same question that I had been mentally pouring over for the last four minutes or so.

We both cast a glance to the chair separating us, finding it just as empty as it was last time we checked.

While Sephiroth wasn't known for missing school, his absence still shouldn't have been any call for alarm. After all, every kid missed school now and then.

It was just that...after last night, how he just took off..I don't know. We were all just a little worried.

"I don't know, Zack." I answered honestly. "You haven't seen him?"

This was obviously not what he had been hoping to hear.

"No." He started, dropping down into his chair, looking gloomy.

"And he didn't answer his phone when Tseng called him, either."

There was a certain unexplainable sense of dread that surrounded us, him an I. The kind of dread that couldn't be eased, no matter how much reassurance you fed it, until it saw straight-up proof.

And Zack's demeanor wasn't helping anything either. When someone like _him_ was upset, there was obviously something wrong.

I just hoped that we were overreacting. I mean, it isn't like Sephiroth had never stormed off without saying anything before, because if that kid wasn't the reigning lord of all mood swings– no one was. He just liked his space, I suppose. Which could explain his not answering the phone. Maybe he just didn't feel like talking...

For some reason, that damned knot in my stomach wouldn't accept that explanation. It was obviously thinking the worst, and that wasn't something I wanted to consider.

He would never just get sick of us, would he?

We were his friends, you don't just walk away from your friends, do you?

"Time to send in the goons." Zack snickered half heartedly, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. Curiosity getting the better of me, I had to ask.

"Who are you calling? I doubt Sephiroth is going to answer _you_."

I hadn't meant it to sound like it came out, but he didn't seem to take any notice.

Grinning, Zack pressed the send the send button.

"I'm not! I was just informing Tseng that Seph didn't show up today, and that he should go over there and check on him, since he doesn't have anything better to do and Oprah is a repeat anyway."

Tseng watches Oprah? Oh, I couldn't wait to give him hell about this.

We both allowed ourselves a laugh that we most certainly needed

"...Don't call my boyfriend a goon."

---

Tseng

"Asshole. Stupid, Stupid Asshole." I berated no one in particular as I backed out of the driveway.

Who does he think he is, sending me on his errands? Little punk.

As soon as this got all squared away and everything back to normal, I was going to strangle him.

I looked down at the message I had received from my brother a few minutes ago.

"_Hey Bro. Seph isn't here. Get up and go see him. It's a repeat today anyway, you Oprah loving Nancy. The one with the conjoined twins._

_By the Way- Rufus says your bad in bed."_

Ooooh. Is he going to die.

"First of all" I began out loud to myself. I probably looked crazy, but I didn't care.

"I was going to go check on Seph anyway, you little all-knowing _shit_. I'm his best friend and I don't need _you _to tell me something is wrong with him."

I came to a stop light where the woman in the car along side of me began to stare. Quickly, I gave her the bird and went back to telling off my figment brother.

"Secondly, I do not watch Oprah. I watch the news and fall asleep. By the time I wake up, Oprah is on and there you are, looking at me with that stupid grin. It's like you get home, know I am asleep and sit there until I wake up. What do you do while you are waiting for me to wake up? Oh yea. _You_ watch it. Which would explain why you would know if there is a repeat today."

I realize this was borderline unhealthy, and more than I ever actually said to the _real_ Zack, but it was making me feel better, so I was going to bitch until my soapbox collapsed.

"And lastly, you miserable little whelp, I am _not_ bad in bed. I don't know who you think you're fooling with this "Rufus told me" crap, but it isn't me. Rufus can't even say the _word_ 'orgasm' to anyone else without giggling or blushing, so I know damned well he wasn't talking about it to _you."_

Taking a deep breath now that I had everything said, I calmed myself down and pulled up into Sephiroth's drive way. It's amazing how quickly you can pass the time when you are abusing your siblings, whether they are present or not.

Stepping out of the car, I made my way up to the steps and beat on the door a few times. I was going to give in ninety seconds before I just walked inside.

If you know something is wrong, you shouldn't let an unanswered door stop you.

If Zack were here, he would be telling me that we had both seen enough scary movies to know that that's never a good idea—but I was angry with him, so fuck him and his advice.

Besides, Seph's uncle was rarely home, and if his cousin was- Well. Xemnas was easy enough to convince that he had never seen me.

Lucky for me and my horror-film-fanatic-Zack subconscious, I didn't have to sneak in as someone had just answered the door.

Now standing in the doorway was a man I had never seen before. This, however, did not stop me from forming an opinion of him. It took about three seconds to realize that I hated everything about him, and an additional three to see that he creeped me the hell out. And I don't 'creep out' easily.

Maybe it was the lab coat.

"Can I help you?" He didn't sound like wanted to be very helpful. Even his voice screamed 'don't come near me, something is very, very wrong.' Pushing away my internal chanting of 'Psycho,' I was not to be deterred.

"Yes, is Sephiroth in?"

I really wanted to ask who in the hell he was, and if he made any recent habits of abducting and slaughtering toddlers, but this hardly seemed the time.

"Yes, he is."

That was when the door was slammed in my face.

A few seconds of blank staring at the hard wood surface of the door found that not only was Dr. Jekyll here a creep, but a prick as well. Tearing my eyes from the treated oak, I contemplated just what to do now. I was actually considering the old romance film move – throwing rocks at his window (I would leave out the serenading part)– when thankfully the door was reopened. This time it was Sephiroth.

I'll admit it, I didn't even try to stop myself.

"You look like shit."

"I guess you want to come in."

"What happened?"

"Close the door behind you."

Putting the questions on hold I followed him in, closing the door as he'd asked.

Passing by the livingroom, I noticed about 5 bags and just as many boxes. Either someone was cleaning, or someone was moving. Good God, if Professor Jackass was moving in...which reminded me.

"Who's the Shmuck in the lab coat?"

Sephiroth handed me a coke and motioned for me to sit with him at the table, taking a leisurely sip of his own before he answered me.

"Hojo."

A sharp glance over the soda can and our eyes met. He was making a little of a face, be it from the acidity of the Coke or if the name just left a bad taste, I can't be sure.

Hojo. Sephiroth's father.

Probably the only thing the kid ever had and ever would run away from.

Nothing good was coming out of this.

Keeping the careful eye contact, we could hear Hojo shuffling around in the next room.

Setting his can down on the table, he slid it around watching the moisture rings left behind on the surface. He seemed unsure of himself. Yep, nothing good was coming out of this.

"I have to go live with him."

To be honest, the only thing that kept me from choking on my soda was that I had been expecting it. Dreading it, yes, but still expecting.

"You can't go with him."

We were talking quieter now, noticing that the noise from the other room had silenced. Helter Skelter had probably started eavesdropping after hearing his own name mentioned.

"I have to. You know all of that legal bullshit." He tried to look unfazed, and it wasn't working. Not with me it wasn't, anyway. But I didn't care if he tried to hide it. So long as he didn't start shutting down on me, we were fine.

"So get emancipated! Jesus, you've told me about him. I'm 19, _I'll adopt you_ before I let you go back with him!"

He laughed softly at the suggestion that we both knew would have been highly amusing under different circumstances . It was laugh I hadn't heard from him before. The laugh was genuine, yes, but it shadowed surrender.

Thing was- it wasn't me he was giving in to.

And it was breaking my heart.

He was leaving. He knew it and I knew it.

He had told me about Hojo on a few occasions, and I knew enough to realize that if he wanted you – he got you. There was no escaping, just prolonging the inevitable.

"When are you leaving?"

_Grow a spine! Do something! Don't sit here and help him plan it! He's your best friend, goddamn it! Don't just sit there_...it was hard to shove all of these thoughts, all of these things I wanted to do, away.

"I–"

"We're leaving in 45 minutes. You are in the way, boy."

Hojo walking in and gestured to me as if shooing a fly.

"Leave."

"He can stay until we leave." Seph growled, glaring at the table, his soda getting quite the death grip. Hojo rolled his eyes and shook his head, not a greasy piece of hair moving out of place.

"Fine." he smiled to me then, using his index finger to slide his glasses further up his nose. If there was ever a smile I could erase from my memory, it would be this one. It made my skin crawl. People like him should not be allowed to express joy, especially not the demented kind he was radiating.

"You must be Sephiroth's friend." he croaked, inspecting me before giving Seph a disapproving look. The look quickly turned to one of cruel amusement.

"You've never had one of those before."

The sickening smile was definitely back. He knew exactly what he was taking his "son" away from. In fact, it was very clear that he delighted in it.

I was beyond pissed.

"You're a total bastard."

Someone had to tell him, may as well have been me. I saw Seph snicker a little, and felt a bittersweet feeling. Happy to have made him laugh, sad that it was the last time.

Dr. Fruits gave Seph one more knowing look before he slithered out of the room. And I say 'slithered' with the most affectionate of intentions at heart. Or not.

"Be ready to go in half an hour."

The next 20 minutes were spent in a sobering silence. Neither of us speaking, not even looking at the other. We weren't exactly the talkative type, anyway. Not that there was anything _to _say.

We both understood and were forced to accept it. He didn't want to leave and I didn't want him to go. Both of us caught drowning in a thick pool of injustice. I have felt helpless before, but this hit a whole new level.

Another ten minutes passed and Hojo was back. He seemed irritated, but still disturbingly cheerful. He was crackbrained, no doubt about it.

"Get your stuff in the car, let's go."

---

I helped him load all of his things into the trunk while the greasy bastard watched, relishing in the thought of breaking the child he never deserved.

With all of the bags packed up, all that was left was the goodbye.

This didn't feel real. This couldn't be happening...just didn't feel real.

We both stood in front of the passenger door, watching to see what the other would do.

It was a vast understatement to say that we weren't hugging people, but I knew damned well that if a parting handshake was the last thing we ever had, we would never forgive ourselves.

As the last part of me was debating if I really wanted to try it, I made up my mind.

"Fuck it." I said, and opened my arms, pulling him to me. I thanked every god I knew that he didn't bow up, but instead actually returned the embrace.

Sighing and pulling away, we could see that Professor DipShit was ready to leave and making no effort to hide his impatience.

"This is going to kill Zack, you know."

And that was the truth.

He gave me a remorseful look that broke another piece of me altogether.

"It's probably going to kill me, too." he paused. "Don't tell anyone."

What?! How Could I not tell anyone? Surely he didn't believe...

"You don't think anyone will notice that you disappeared!?"

I hated to say that in our parting moments, I was yelling at him. But, some things can't be helped.

He tossed Hojo an annoyed glance before looking back to me.

"Just tell them I left. I'm a bastard, they shouldn't doubt it."

Oh.

He didn't want anyone to know _why_ he left. He wanted them to think that he left because he wanted to, not because he had to. I rolled my eyes at his reasoning. Go figure.

"Promise?"

At that, I could only stare.

In our entire year and a half of friendship (has it really been that short?), we had never asked 'promise.' It was borderline pathetic, especially coming from him.

Sighing, I let a small smile touch my lips.

"Who knew we'd be little girls in the end, huh Princess? Yea, I promise."

He went to say something (probably to reprimand me for calling him 'princess'– I had to get him back somehow for making me lie for him), but we both wound up cringing as HojoShitFace laid on the horn.

Insensitive Asshole.

Climbing into a car that was too small for his height, we shared a final look before the car pulled out.

Watching it roll down the street, turning one last corner before it left my sight forever, I just stood in his driveway. Disbelief finally fading and the reality of the situation was setting in.

Zack, and Rufus, and...Well...Zack and Rufus were going to be heartbroken. Rufus already had abandonment issues and self esteem problems, and Zack was completely head over heals in love, especially now that Sephiroth had actually showed signs of returning his feelings.

Now I had to waltz in and tell them that he left. And when they asked why, I had to tell them it was because he wanted to. I had to tell them that it was because he didn't care about them and wanted something more. That it was because we weren't good enough. I had to turn Sephiroth into a Monster. Had to be the one to shatter them, and I was dreading it more and more ever second.

I would have said that life was unfair, but at this point it hardly seemed necessary.

It was time to make a stop by the school.

-------------

Zack

"Zachary Donovan, you're needed for checkout."

"Huh?!" came my unintelligent response as I picked my head up off the desk. The drool stringing from the top to my bottom lip had a nice effect, I think. Yea, definitely drove the ladies wild.

"You're supposed to check out." Cloud hissed from my left, digging through his book bag before producing a tissue, looking disgusted.

"Have some dignity, Zack." he said, rolling his eyes while I cleaned up my slobber mess.

"Why are you getting checked out?"

I thought about it for a little bit. It couldn't be my mom...Mom said she was never going to check me out again unless the nurse verified that I was absolutely incapable of going on. Yea, it doesn't pay to use the same trick too many times.

And Dad...Well, Dad was the one who actually drew Mom's attention to my fake sick calls in the first place. That jerk, who did he think he was! If I want to check out everyday for a week, then by God, I think I should.

Thinking this, I noticed I was pouting. Very unmanly...And I guess Cloud took my pout as an 'I have no idea why, Cloud, I am a moron. Please– dazzle me with your intelligence.'

Fortunately (and unfortunately at the same time, really) he made no attempt to outshine me by solving the mystery for me. He, instead, offered me this:

"Well, if it's important let me know. Me and Leon will slip out of here and find you if you need us."

I stood from the desk and smiled at him. I was lucky to have friends like I did. There was no replacing them.

"Thanks Cloud. Let's hope it's nothing bad."

He nodded and I went to get the slip of paper from the blond kid who delivered it. He was the same one from before.

Walking down the hall beside him, I couldn't help but notice how much he looked like Cloud.

Weird.

Hmm...Well if he looked like Cloud..maybe he was smart like him, too. Not that Cloud was any scholar...Far from it, actually. Haha.

"I don't suppose you know what this is about, do you?"

The boy shrugged, or rather– Roxas shrugged, now that I could see his "Happy Helper Name Tag." He didn't look that happy. More moody than anything, really. He had nice hand writing though.

"Just a guy who says he's your brother. 'Family Emergency.' He had a funny name."

Letting out a laugh that simply couldn't be avoided, I smiled at Roxas.

"Was the name 'Tseng?'" I asked, Everybody thought Tseng's name was funny. You should hear people try and pronounce it if they haven't heard it already...'Te-Song. Te-Sing. Stong.' The mistakes were endless, as well as endlessly hilarious.

"Yea...that was it." he said, looking thoughtful before looking back to the floor.

"Yea," I paused for another chuckle. "You should have heard how they announced it at his graduation. My mom cried."

He tried to hold back a smile, as people like him often do, but everyone finds eventually that they can't help but succumb to The Great Zack – Social King.

The kid was a toughie, but no scowl could survive a full blown, charming assault. A Zack-Attack, as we in the business call them.

"They called him Tusayan. As in city in Arizona. Ah man, he was pissed. He had that teacher for home room all year! And he still screwed it up!"

I was pleased with myself when Roxas laughed quitely. All in a day's work And now that I had that over with, it was time to ask a stupid question.

"You know Roxas, you look a lot like my friend Cloud."

He stopped walking and looked at me like I had confessed to being WolfMan and eating Farmer Joe's prized goats.

After a few more moments of starting at me like this, he opened his mouth and spoke slowly. "He's _my brother._"

"WHAT?!" I was pretty damn sure I just experienced a mental car wreck. And there were no survivors. I guess he didn't hear me, because he just stood there looking at me like I was an idiot.

"WHAT?!" I squawked again. I shouldn't squawk, but this was important.

The kid raised an eyebrow at me, looking even more like Cloud than before.

"You are not!" I screamed at him, panicking. "I go to his house all the time! I have known him for **_years!_**"

He just shook his head and started walking again.

"Then you have no excuse. I live with our dad."

CLOUD HAS A DAD?! WHAT THE HELL?!

"I mean seriously...there are pictures of me in the house _somewhere_, I'm sure." He added, looking back at me. I jogged to catch up with him.

"I thought that was Little-Cloud!"

I attempted to gather my thoughts, but it just wasn't happening.

I could only think of one thing. That would most certainly solve this.

"I'll meet you back in the front office! Tell Tseng I'm sorry!" I told him, then turned and booked it back for the classroom.

"Cloud!" I hollered once I reached the room.

Cloud jumped and stared at me like I was insane, as did every other person in the class. Oh well. Screw them, this was important.

"YOU HAVE A BROTHER!?!"

A few moments of silence passed.

"...Yes, Zack..." he came out, slowly. The teacher looked too confused to be angry.

"And you never told me?!" I could have been foaming at the mouth by now, and I probably was. I still couldn't believe it!

"There are pictures of him in the house, Zack."

"I thought that was Little-You!"

His face scrunched a little, a sign of an oncoming 'you're stupid' moment.

"We're _both_ in the picture, Zack. Together."

His face was blank. I was just making this worse and worse for myself, but I couldn't stop! Somebody shut me up!

"I thought it was some camera trick!...And what's this about you having a _DAD?!_"

"...Go check out, Zack. We'll talk about this later."

Don't have to tell me twice.

When I returned to the office, I saw Roxas trying to avoid me, a telltale smile on his face. I was considering admitting defeat to him, but then I caught sight of Tseng trying to convince the other 'Happy Helper' to see things his way.

"But it's a family emergency." he said, staring down his nose at the girl.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but you have to be _in_ the family to declare family emergency."

"...His whole family was involved in a terrible accident, they are all dead. They can't check him out for it." he said, deadpan. I decided to share some facts with him.

"Hey Tseng! Did you know that Cloud had a brother...and there aren't any accidents! We would have seen in on the news in class!"

Tseng spun around and glared at me.

"This is not the time Zack! And what took you so long?"

Whoa. Someone was pissy.

He rolled his eyes, returning to the assistant.

"Ma'am, please. I–"

"I don't care what you say, Sir, I can not allow you to check Rufus Shinra out of school. By Law, _Sir_." There was, at this point, a sarcastic edge on 'Sir.'

Oh man...This girl was going to have to sacrifice her first born child to remove the pox Tseng was going to wish on her family.

Before anyone could get strangled by an outraged Wutian who couldn't check his underage lover out of school, I grabbed Tseng's shoulders and steered him out of the building, waving to Roxas on the way out.

Once outside, I let go of him and started off to the right, walking backwards and talking to him.

"Go to the car and wait right here! I'll go get Rufus."

Nodding, he went off to get the car and I set about the task of Rufus Hunting.

Once Rufus had been sufficiently smuggled out of school and we made it back to our house, Tseng led us inside and sat down.

Looking at Rufus, I could tell he was doing the same thing I was. Trying to convince himself that there was nothing wrong and that this had nothing what-so-ever to do with Seph.

No easy task when Tseng was pacing around in front of you, occasionally calling Sephiroth a Bastard. Finally he stopped walking and turned to us. He looked nervous, which almost never happened.

"Sephiroth left today. He isn't coming back. He needed something and he wasn't getting it here." as he finished, his gaze fell to the floor, then to each of us.

It was in that instant that my world shut down.

I couldn't move, I couldn't talk. I couldn't breathe.

"Where?" I heard Rufus ask. I don't know why I thought it was him, I couldn't distinguish voices at this point. For all I knew, _I _could have asked it.

"I don't know." There was a pause. "He didn't really say why. He just...wanted to leave."

Suddenly everything snapped back into place for me, and I shot up from my seat.

"I'm going to find him."

----

Everywhere.

I fucking checked everywhere. His house, the neighborhood, the mall, local restaurants, the bus station. Everywhere.

The only place left to check was where I was currently standing, and it wasn't holding much promise.

Looking around the library, it was easy enough to see that Sephiroth was not here. He wasn't hard to spot, and he wasn't anywhere.

Collapsing into the nearest chair, I could feel my heart ripping itself out of my chest. Why would he leave us? Why would he leave _me? _I was happy! He seemed happy!..As happy as you can imagine him appearing, anyway. I just...

I knew I was going to cry. I didn't want to, but there was no avoiding it..Thankfully most kids had better things to do than hang out in the library, so it was empty.

Not able to stand it anymore, my head dropped into my hands and I just let it all out. I couldn't believe it. I loved him! And not the fucking "LyKe OmG! lets be 2gether4ever!" puppy love _bullsit_. No. I...I..I don't know! I was so stupid...I was stupid to think that he would ever care about me. I wish I–

"Zack right?" A soft voice startled me out of my thoughts, reminding me that I was, in fact, sobbing in public. Baby.

Sniffling quickly and 'discretely' (or I hoped it was, anyway) wiping my eyes, I tried not to look like I was on the verge of a _total _mental breakdown.

"Uh...Yea." I answered smoothly, looking up to see a pair of painfully beautiful green eyes. 'Painfully' due to the harsh similarity. It was unfair, fate shouldn't tease.

She smiled at me, and I took her in. Green eyes, long, flowing hair, Slender figure. She looked so much like him. Not quite perfect, no. Not like him. No one could be like him, but she was close enough for it to count.

"Hi, I go to your school. I'm Aerith."

-----

END CHAPTER

-----

A/N

ooh! And she's in!

Dun Dun Dun! In the next chapter, the Aerith Bashing will begin!!! You have fair warning! If you like her, don't read this! I don't really have a problem with her, it is just what needs to be done for the story. So don't get all offended when you knew well enough ahead of time. And fret not, kiddies! **We have not seen the last of Sephiroth! And this is by no means a Zack/Aerith**.

Anyway– I'm exhausted now. Hahaha. Who knew typing could take so much out of you!!!

Feedback is appreciated! Have a goodnight and following morning!


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer:::

I own noshing. Haha. Noshing at all. I don't own the "Lips of an Angel" song, by Hinder.

A/N:

I know, I know! It's been what….5 months?! Maybe more? I am SO SORRY! I never meant to take this long. Believe me, not a day has passed that this story hasn't been haunting me, telling me to finish it. So I hope you can forgive me for the wait……But after millennia…here it is. The next to final chapter. YES!! This was supposed to be the last one..but..after I hit page 10, I started to rethink that decision. I didn't want to, but I broke down and decided to have one more chapter after this. Crap! IWANT THIS TO END! So I can start my NEW one:) Yes…The new one will be great.

Oh, and upfront apology about the constant POV shifts. Since this is basically the end, I just kind of wanted to get everyone in .Also, I had no beta-reader for this, so please forgive the errors that I didn't notice. Anyway….Without further adieu…

-_-__-----_

**Chapter 16**

_Half a year had passed since the day that Sephiroth left. __Everything changing in his wake, yet everything __remaining__ the same._

_Tseng had long since gotten his job back and had even begun college at the nearby university. __Rufus and Zack had graduated from high school several months ago, Rufus opting to take a longer break before starting college, and Zack still debating if he wanted to go at all.__ He had other things to concern himself with, after all. Like his relationship with the girl who he had met the day Sephiroth broke his heart- Aerith. Zack was in love again. Or so __thought._

**Tseng's POV**

"Zacky!"

Oh, God. The high pitched squeal made it's way right into my brain, crushing every cell it could wrap itself around. Was she over here already? I sighed. Godammit. I knew I shouldn't have woken up today.

Leaning back on the bed, I could just see out of my door way and into the hallway. Enough so that I could see the stairwell, bathroom, and Zack's bedroom door. I was hoping he would hurry up and get down there and greet her before she screamed for him again. I hated that stupid bitch.

"_Oh, Zacky!"_ I mocked to myself; finally giving in to the cramp I was getting from leaning awkwardly and just flopping onto the floor to continue watching. This ended up being very lucky for me, because as I was down there, I noticed a pair of Rufus' underwear- not so discretely lying half way under the bed. Shoving them farther under, I returned to my post.

After a few moments, I began to wonder if Zack was even going to come out. Intending to spare myself from the awaiting girl's voice, I pulled myself up from the floor and made my way over to Zack's room.

"Hey." I called to him as I opened the door and propped myself into the frame.

"Shh!" was the only greeting I received as Zack peeked at me from the other side of his bed. It disturbed me greatly it to know that a moment ago, _both_ of us had been lying on the floor by our beds. I liked to think that we shared nothing in common.

Smirking at him, I moved into the bedroom fully, closing the door behind me. This is how it was every time.

Every time Aerith's name was mentioned, Zack cringed. Every time she came over to visit him, he hid in vain, hoping she would disappear. Every time her name showed up on the Caller ID, he groaned.

Yep. Zack's girlfriend drove him absolutely crazy. Something I often picked at him about. He hated nothing more than my holier than thou "Don't torture yourself by being with someone you don't love" speeches, except perhaps for Aerith herself.

"Come on, Zack. She knows you're here. She probably saw you tear off to your room when she was walking up the drive way."

A sock to the face was the only thing I was answered with, as he ducked back down by his bed.

"Shut up, Tseng! I told Mom to tell her I wasn't here." Came his hushed, distressed voice from the other side of the bed. This was pathetic.

Shaking my head at my little brother, I backed into the doorway upon hearing her screech out his name once more.

"He's up here in his room." I smugly called down the stair towards the demon woman. Suddenly I found myself tackled into the doorframe, Zack's hands shaking my shoulders violently.

"Traitor! Why would you do that?!"

I was debating just which justification I would use, for there were a LOT of them, when Zack wrenched himself off of me, an instant smile on his face.

"Hey, Babe!" It was amazing. You wouldn't think someone like Zack would be such an excellent liar, but here he was, performing at the level of what was probably a serial killer.

"Hi, Zack!" She instantly wrapped him in a loving hug, smiling and waving to me from over Zack's shoulder. From the mirror on the other side of the room I could see Zack's distinguishable "I am in complete agony" face. It was almost funny, except for the fact that he couldn't keep this up forever. One day he was going to have to do something about this. And if he didn't do it soon, I was going to kill him.

As Zack was dragged down the hallways by Aerith, who was babbling about being late for a movie, I shook my head and started back for my own room, ignoring the pained look Zack gave me as he was led away.

**((Zack's POV))**

Dear Lord in heaven, Hallow be thy name. Please, I will do whatever it takes, just make her _stop holding my hand!_ My palms are sweating to death and it's driving me crazy! You would think the sweat would gross her out and she would let go.

Then again…I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to bottle my sweat and smell it on those lonely nights. I shuddered. Okay..So that was a nasty thought. I apologize.

As the movie continued to play on and Aerith shifted next to me, I allowed my thoughts to take me away.

How did I let this happen? Better yet, _when_ did this happen?! I mean, in the beginning, I enjoyed her company! I really did! But now…It's like she couldn't function without me. And don't get my wrong..I don't enjoy leading her on and lying to her, but I just can't bring myself to break her heart. Her stupid, stupid heart.

Stupid Aerith….I tried to ignore the fact that she was tilting her head up to look at me. I pretended to be caught up in the movie because I knew she wanted me to kiss her. And while I could manage lying to her face, I couldn't, in good moral honesty, touch her when I couldn't stand her presence. That was just a universal "No-No," after all. And you didn't mess with the universal No-Nos.

--

As the movie ended and everyone stumbled out of the theater, legs still a little numb and eyes unadjusted, Aerith and I tried to beat the crowd to the parking lot and ran off to the car. At first I thought she was angry with me for not paying attention to her in the movie theater, but I guess I couldn't be that lucky.

Nope...She was perfectly happy with me. _Dammit_. And she was staring at me again, just smiling. She leaned over and pecked me on the lips softly, telling me she loved me. Jesus Christ. What, did she think we were _getting married_ or something?!

Quickly getting in and starting the car, I backed out of the parking lot as she leaned over to turn on the radio. I almost wrecked the car as _that fucking song_ came on again. I hate that damn song.

_**My girl's in the next room, Sometimes I wish it was you** **I guess we never really moved on.**_

Every time this stupid song came on I was forced to remember why I agreed to go out with Aerith in the first place, and the only reason I brought myself to stay with her.

Because when she wasn't talking (or smiling), I could see Sephiroth in her in the most unhealthy way. Those were the times I could convince myself that I loved her, and that I wanted to stay with her. Those were the moments that made the whole thing worth it. But…nothing was worth this. I am not a bad person, I am a good person. I don't enjoy lying to her. I…That was it. Tonight, I was ending it. I would rather break her heart now then years down the road, when we are both miserable.

I didn't bother trying to change the station because I knew she would only pout about it. She liked this song, which was kind of a secret victory for me in a way, but whatever.

Sighing, I turned my full attention back to the road as Aerith sang along to the song that embodied my guiltiest pleasure in song form. Of course, that didn't make the song any less crappy.

Life was funny. Cruel, but funny. But after tonight…maybe things would get better.

**((Aerith's POV))**

Awww! He is so adorable! I love how hard he concentrates on his driving. He wants to keep me safe, I know.

Smiling to myself, I once again couldn't believe my luck to he found someone so wonderful! He cared about me so much! I knew he did. I let out a large, dreamy sigh. I couldn't wait to marry him.

We hadn't talked about it, but now that we had been out of school for a while, I just knew he was going to pop the question any time now.

My Sugar-Bear gave me a funny look at the high pitched noise that I tried to hold in to myself. Obliviously I had not succeeded. But I couldn't help it! Every time I imagined our marriage I got so darn giddy!

Smiling at him, I went back to looking out the front window. We were getting closer to his house now, and I was excited. I loved our lazy days, when we just hung out at his house. With his family or alone in his room, I didn't care. I just loved being with him. We didn't even need to talk. More often than not we could sit in complete silence, sometimes I even joked that he was ignoring me. He never denies it, since it is such a ridiculous statement.

One person in his family I was never sure of, though, was his brother. I don't think Tseng likes me very much…Oh well! I will win him over soon enough! One day he will realize that I am largely responsible for Zack's happiness and come around to me.

We were pulling up in the drive way when a disgruntled looking little blonde came storming around the corner and up to Zack's house. It was Tseng's little boyfriend, and he didn't look very happy.

"What's Rufus doing here? Tseng's in class, he knows that." Zack mumbled to himself. He is just too cute when he talks to himself.

Putting the car in park, Zack climbed out of the vehicle, I followed shortly after.

"Hey Rufus? You all right? Tseng's not here right now, you know that right?" my boyfriend asked, walking up to the downright furious looking young man. Rufus wheeled around abruptly, suddenly looking on the verge of tears as Zack approached him.

"Guess what?" he asked, the sarcasm in his voice and the falsity of his smile almost biting. He threw his arms up and let them fall back violently to his sides. "Seph's back."

"….What?" I heard Zack ask. I tried to focus on their conversation and not the awful feelings I had bubbling up in my stomach.

"Yea." Rufus snapped. "The bastard moved back here. He came by my house and told me himself. Said he was sorry for leaving. But whatever, right? I just told him to fuck himself and as soon as he left I came over here. Figured I would warn the others that are undoubtedly on his "Destroying Life" list."

When Zack didn't respond I began to feel even more worried for him. He never would tell me much about his past with this "Sephiroth." All I knew was what I heard around the school and that Zack had apparently had very strong feelings for him. He was the reason I found Zack crying that day in the library. What if he left me for a past fling? No, he would never do that to me. I knew him. He cared too much for that! He was in love with me and I had nothing to worry about.

I heard him take a deep breath and he walked over to the front door, motioning for us to come inside.

--

**((Rufus' POV))**

I can't believe this. How could he do this? Make us believe that he was our friend and then just take off one day? Because he just wanted to? That shit doesn't fly with me. No way.

Clenching and unclenching my palms to calm myself down, I attempted to sooth my temper. I had always been somewhat of a fit thrower.

Blood pressure returning to normal, I glanced around the room. It was just me, Zack, and his Seph-fill-in bimbo. Actually, much to my delight, when she went to the bathroom he told me that he planned on ending it with her tonight. This was truly a day to remember. At least one good thing was happening. And Tseng would be thrilled! He couldn't stand Zack's girlfriend.

But enough about that; we have greater problems at hand. Clearing my throat and using the time we had while Idiot was still out of the room, I turned to stare fully at Zack.

"So what do we do about Sephiroth?"

Zack looked hesitant. He looked around the room in thought before looking back to me.

"Well. If what Tseng said was true about why he left, then I am still pretty pissed off. Ya know?" I nodded and he continued.

"Maybe….maybe……" He sighed and bowed his head. "I don't know. Maybe we should wait until Tseng gets home. He should be back really soon. He'll know what to do."

I shook my head. Genius had just struck me.

"I agree somewhat, we should wait for Tseng to make any real decisions. But. We need to go over some things with out him. Because I know Tseng, and I know that he isn't upset like we are. So if we want to get back at Seph, we have to do it alone."

I seemed to have his attention now, and we were both grateful that Aerith was known for spending such a long time in front of the mirror.

"I may be going out on a limb…but. I know Seph, okay? And I'm going to say that after he left, he realized what he lost with you, and how he wasted all that time just letting you fawn all over him and never doing anything about it. Before he didn't feel any need to hurry into anything with you because he knew you would always be there for him. Well he doesn't have that leisure anymore. You have a girlfriend, Zack. One he doesn't know you can't stand. And I'll bet anything he wants you."

He looked confused.

"I'm not exactly sure I know what you're saying..." His confusion turned to an apologetic look. Poor, simple Zack.

"Make him jealous, Zack. Throw yourself into your relationship with Aerith. Hit him where it's going to hurt until he gives us a real apology, because that bullshit he gave me before isn't cutting it." As I spoke the words, I scared myself a little. I sounded downright evil. I've never felt this spiteful before, but you know what? He hurt me. He hurt all of us. He hurt Tseng, too, but every time the subject of Sephiroth was brought up, he defended the bastard.

Now Zack just looked plain uneasy.

"I don't know, Rufus. I was going to break up with her today. I want out of the relationship." This was all in a very hushed tone, mind you. "And I don't think I could use her like that. The fact that I have led her on this long is awful enough, this is just wrong."

"What's just wrong? Zack, Honey, is everything okay?" Crap. I didn't hear her come out of the bathroom. She wasn't sobbing or going on a killing spree yet, so I can't imagine that she heard anymore than what she repeated.

"Uh, Yea Aerith. Hey, will you sit down with me? Rufus, will you excuse us?" What? Zack, no! You can't break up with her! We need to use her! Had that been stated out loud, I would probably been hailed Earths Biggest Asshole. But who cares, we had bigger problems.

Glaring and standing from the couch, I was ready to trudge off in seething defeat when something glorious happened. The front door opened wide and in walked Tseng, smiling like crazy with Sephiroth by his side. However, Tseng's smile faltered when he looked up.

I turned to see the cause; only to see Zack kissing Aerith like there was no tomorrow. I think the only thing that held off the nausea for me was the feeling of extreme victory I experienced upon seeing the expression on Seph's face. Beautiful. God bless you, Zack God bless you.

When Zack pulled away from Aerith, she was grinning stupidly and he wouldn't look up from the floor.

"Hello, Zack." You could see the memories flooding back to Zack when Seph said his name. Well sorry, Sir, but it won't be that easy. Though judging by Zack's face, it just might be…

Tseng must have seen my smirk, because he scowled disapprovingly at me. I already knew we were going to be opponents in this game. He was going to try and act like nothing happened and I was going to drag it out until Seph made up for what he had done. And that was that.

--

**((Zack's POV))**

I can't believe I did that. Kissing her because of him was eleven different kinds of evil. God..I forgot how absolutely gorgeous he was. All I wanted to do was run up to him, ask him if he wanted me, and hand myself over….but…Rufus was right. We couldn't just let him off easy. We had to make him suffer a little bit. Taking a deep breath, I gathered my strength, and looked Sephiroth in the eyes.

"Hey, Seph. Long time no see." That one probably stung him a little bit. But it was for the greater good. The sooner he broke the sooner I could throw myself and him and convince him to take advantage of me.

As we continued to stare at each other, I heard a polite cough to my left. The cough seemed to trigger a snicker from Tseng, as I realized that in my battle to not make goo-goo eyes, I had forgotten Aerith, the supposed love of my life.

Grabbing her hand I helped her up from the sofa and gestured to her.

"Sephiroth, this is my girlfriend, Aerith. Aerith, this is Sephiroth. We went to school together before he ran off."

It's funny just how evil the glare I received from Tseng really was. And believe me, over the years I had seen my fair share of them. I suppose he didn't approve of me bumping Seph down from "Obsession of the Heart" to "some kid at school." That, and I was pretty sure he had already caught on to what I was using Aerith to do. Rufus seemed to be enjoying himself, though.

Immediately working to get out of this tension-filled, silent situation (especially since Aerith and Sephiroth were just staring at each other), I began pulling 'my love' towards to door.

"Well, I have to take her home now, so I will see you guys later." Unfortunately, getting to the door meant getting awfully close to Seph. It took everything in me not to 'accidentally' brush against him, but that would destroy everything. Plus, Rufus would be angry, and he really is quite terrifying.

--

Once we were out of the house, Aerith gave me the biggest smile I had seen from her in a long time. Needless to say, I was already regretting whatever it was I had done that pleased her.

"Zack! Aw! You are the sweetest guy in the world! I can't believe you! At first I was worried that you were going to throw me off to the side. I know how you used to feel about him. You are the greatest boyfriend! I love you so much. What are you doing tomorrow? Me and Tifa are going to the mall, wanna go? We'll meet at your place!"

Jesus Christ. We weren't even in the car yet. I'm going to kill Rufus. Horrified of him or not.

**((Tseng's POV))**

Well, this wasn't going quite as planned. Here we were, me, Rufus, and Seph, all sitting in my room. I expected Rufus to take this a lot better than he was, but I guess I really shouldn't be surprised. It's also really hard to comfort him and convince him to forgive when I can barely keep the smile off my face. What can I say? I was happy to have my best friend back.

"So, did you have fun in…wherever you ran off to?" Rufus asked with a horrible smile.

At first I thought Sephiroth was going to lash out at him, which I was certainly not prepared for, but instead, he just stood from his seat and walked over to Rufus. He stood before him, looking down, before kneeling down in front of him.

Grabbing Rufus' hand, Sephiroth forced down his pride and opened his mouth.

"Rufus, I'm sorry. I told Tseng to tell you what he did. I really left because my father found me and demanded that I went with him."

I could tell that Rufus was struggling to keep up the angry appearance that he was wearing. "And what, did he set you free?"

Seph frowned. He looked at me for support but I only motioned for him to continue. We both knew how difficult Rufus could be. Sephiroth rolled his eyes before looking back at Rufus, who refused to look back at him.

"No. Actually, we came to an understanding, of sorts, and I was able to convince him to move back here, with me. I'm sorry Rufus. I never wanted to leave you and your stubborn, whiney ass."

Rufus jerked his eyes up, unfortunately for him not able to keep the shocked expression off of his face, which quickly turned into a smile that he tried to hide with his hand.

"I saw that, Rufus." I broke in. I had seen that smile, I don't know who he thought he was fooling. Pouting, Rufus tried to glare at Seph, who was returning to his feet.

"I will forgive you on one condition." My diabolical lover stated, a finger to his lip in evil thought. Seph raised an eyebrow.

"And that is?"

"Hmmm…." Rufus looked around random parts of my room, seeming to try and come up with some treacherous activity worthy of the crime. "You have to take me….hmm…where do you hate?..."

I brought a hand to my own mouth to stifle the small laugh that he forced out. Rufus was so…strange. 'I'm angry with you. So take me somewhere!' What kind of logic was that? Oh well. At least we were getting somewhere.

"Ah ha!" Rufus exclaimed, looking victorious, and not for the first time today. "You're taking me to the mall tomorrow." Again, Sephiroth frowned, but conceded, nodding.

"Great. Hope you have money because I am going to be hungry. Plus, I am bound to see something I like." Rufus rattled off, looking happier than he had in a long time. I think he wanted to forgive Seph from the start, but wouldn't allow himself too. At this point I think he was relieved that it was over.

"Agreed." Seph and Rufus shook on it and Seph sat down next to him.

Now if only Zack and Sephiroth could get over it this smoothly. And that dumb bitch would be out of the picture! I knew it wouldn't be that easy though. Pushing away thoughts of the struggle to come, I relished in the return of relationship between the two most important people in my life.

---

**((Leon's POV))**

"You know you want to forgive him." Zack's brother said as soon as Cloud and I got into the room. What was he doing in here? He got his own room back months ago. I suppose he was trying to play devils advocate for Sephiroth. Though sadly, I think I preferred it back in the day when Zack was chasing him around, rather than now that he was with Aerith.

That's why Cloud and I were over here. We both got a phone call from Zack saying he needed us to come over, that Seph was back and that he needed a favor.

"Shut up, Tseng! I do not." Zack said, batting his hand at Tseng and standing to meet us. "Hey Guys! I missed ya!"

"Zack, you saw us yesterday." Cloud stated, and I only grunted. Zack was impossible to understand.

"Well yea, but you know. I love you guys!"

I sighed, we had only been here for 20 seconds and Zack was already laying it on thick.

"What do you need, Zack?" I asked. Someone had to get to the point before I went crazy.

Zack pretended to look offended. I can't just let you guys how much you mean to me?" He added his idea of puppy dog eyes at the end.

Cloud whipped out his cell phone and mashed a few buttons.

""Hey Cloud. I just called Leon. You guys wanna come over? Seph came back today, Oh, and I need a favor. Pleeease?"" Cloud read the text message, obviously from Zack, in a monotone voice, immediately returning the phone to his pocket.

Zack glanced around before breaking into a grin.

"Okay, fine." He paused before flashing us all a smile and walking closer to us. "Well, you see…" His face turned desperate instantly. You know, I think that's all Zack was, really. An array of exaggerated emotions packed into the first body he could use to sufficiently express them.

"Please! I can NOT go to the mall with her!" He bellowed, his hands instantly finding themselves on his forehead above his eyes, which pulled his hair back and made his nose look pointer than usual. Such a weird little boy.

Poor Cloud found himself being hauled over against the wall by his shoulders as Zack pushed his own body up against Cloud's and began his pathetic pleading. No, there was no escape for Cloud now.

"Pleee-he-he-heeze" Zack all but belted out into Cloud's ear in a raspy, whining voice. "I can't take it! I can not spend another day with her! She's driving me insane! Please! Please, Cloud! You have GOT to get me out of going to the mall with her!"

By now Cloud had abandoned any ambitions of freedom, accepting his defeat as he stood with loose limbs, stuck between Zack and the wall. After a few moments of staring at me blankly, Cloud lifted a limp, reluctant arm and patted our distressed friend's back a few times.

"All right, Zack." He started, relief on his face as Zack pulled back, confidence renewed. As soon as he had some space between them, his eyes once again fell on me.

"Leon, how do we save this poor, poor child?" he questioned blandly as he walked up to stand beside me, his face taking a mock inquisitive expression. Zack was fidgeting in delight as Tseng rolled his eyes and removed himself from the room. I'm sure he had no desire to help his brother remove himself from a mess that was his own entire fault to start with. I sighed as Zack, too, pretended to look deep in thought. He is such an idiot. He was always screwing something up.

As the silence dragged on, something occurred to me. One: Zack didn't have the patience to sit and actually think of a valid, logical plan, even if it was to spare himself. And two: Cloud just wasn't that bright.

Though my mind was screaming for me not to get involved, I couldn't help myself. I took a secret pleasure in being the intelligent one of the group, and enjoyed that fact very much.

"When she gets over here tomorrow, send Cloud a text message and he will call you. Put it on speaker phone while he begs you to come over and help him to…" I smirked at Zack, knowing this next part would strike a chord in him. "Babysit his brother."

I could almost see Zack beating himself up inside for not having known of Roxas, and I could see Cloud holding back a laugh at the expense of the former's misery.

Against his own will, Zack looked at us and smiled.

"Sounds like a plan."

**END CHAPTER**

_Okay. Only ONE LEFT! Thank God…I am so so so ready for this story to be over! Then, as I said, I can start on my new one! If you are interested, let me know. It is going to be posted under Kingdom Hearts, so you wouldn't run into it on this one. The pairings are going to be Sephiroth/Zack and Leon/Cloud. About 99.9 sure it is going to be titled "Guttentag, America."… Sorry about the shameless plug. I felt it necessary. Aha._

_Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter._


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer**: I had hoped you'd all have noticed that I don't own Final Fantasy and its characters yet, but hey. Some people are slow learners. I can respect that. So here it is: I don't own anything here.

Final-Chapter Author's Note!:

Wow…Just wow. When I wrote chapter one last August, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and certainly had no idea that this would stretch out for so long. Whether or not that is a good thing, I will let you decide, but while I have bitched and moaned about updating every day now for almost a year, I have had fun with this story, and I hope you have, too. Enough of my babbling!! Chapter time!

**CHAPTER 17**

When the phone sang out its cheerless alarm of three shrill beeps, Leon and I knew it was time to put Operation Beat Bitch into action. While naming said operation had been fun, I couldn't say I was feeling too enthusiastic about what I had to do next, even though I knew it was for a greater good.

I stared at the cell phone blankly, wishing it would just disappear when I heard Leon snort his amusement from the couch next to me. I guess he realized my plan to just wish it into nonexistence and felt obligated to do me the service of handing me to phone.

**"**_HURRY!__ She's dragging me to the door!" _

I rolled my eyes at Zack's text message, only feeling slightly sorry for him. He should learn how to clean up his own messes.

"Just do it and get it over with, Cloud." Leon said while grinning slightly at me. Of course he thought this was entertaining. Especially since realizing that Roxas was much too old to require a baby sitter, let alone two of them. This meant we had had to wrack our brains for a new excuse, Zack and Leon finally settling on one that I could have definitely lived without.

I tossed Leon a furious glare made him do nothing but settle down into the couch a little more, appearing to get comfortable for the show he was about to watch.

Licking my lips and dialing Zack's phone number, I tried to forget that Leon was even in the room.

"_Cloud!__ Hey! What's up?" _Came the abrupt answer. I swear to God, the phone hadn't even RANG yet. I tried not to picture Zack just randomly picking up his phone in hopes of me being on the other end. I heard a dull 'blip' that I assumed meant that I was now on speaker phone.

"_It's Cloud, Aerith. I won't be long?"_ I could hear Zack inform the girl. I heard her yell her greetings into the phone as I kept my silence. Mother of Holy I did not want to go through with this. "..._Cloud? You there?"_

I felt a nudge on my side and Leon poked me with his foot, and I noted, with much amusement, that he was wearing the socks that Zack had given us.

Swallowing my pride, I decided to do what was best for my friend, no matter how embarrassing it was going to be for me.

"Oh, Zack!" I cried into the phone, trying to put as much emotion as I could into those two words alone. I was going for grief-stricken, brink of tears, and I think I achieved it as Leon was doing everything in his power to keep from laughing.

"_Cloud?__ Are you all right?!" _Came Zack's practiced concern.

"Zack! I…I….." I paused for some whimpering before releasing and all out wail.

"LEON BROKE UP WITH ME!" I tried to ignore the fact that Leon appeared to be smothering his own face with a pillow as his body racked and shook while I conjured up some pathetic sobs.

In the midst of all of Zack's babbles of friendly comfort, I could hear Aerith's soft gasp and inquiry of

"They were dating?"

Bitch. My heart was shattering and that's all she's worried about?

"Please Zack! Can you come over? I just don't think….don't think I can be alone right now.." I paused before releasing agony-ridden bellow.

"Even though I am going to be alone for the rest of my life! God I miss him _so much_!"

I tried to ignore the fact that Leon had rolled off of the couch at this point, and hung up after I heard Zack inform me he would 'be here in ten minutes.' In reality, he was probably going home to take a nap or harass his brother.

Once off the phone I huffed and threw it at Leon, hitting him in the middle of his back. I waited a few moments as he tried to get the last of the giggles out of him, not helping my self but noticing how much I loved to hear him laugh.

After calming down, Leon pulled himself from the floor and sat down beside me, much closer than before. Curiously, I noticed that he still wore an amused grin.

"Cloud, I am so sorry for breaking your heart." He began, smirking, and I tried to ignore the mischievous glint his eyes had taken on.

"I only hope that you could…give me a second chance. I promise I'll be better. What do you say? ...Take me back?"

Whoa, wait. He was getting awfully close to my face. Did he mean…?

I could barely mumble out an unsure "Yes" before his eyes slid shut and his mouth covered my own.

I would have to thank Zack for this later.

---

_**Aerith's** **POV**_

"They were dating?!" Tifa stopped walking and just stared at me in shock. Poor girl. She had had a rather large crush on Cloud for quite some time now, and I hated to tell her that Cloud had been with Leon, apparently, all this time.

"I didn't know either! I thought they were just friends!" I walked back and took her hand, trying to comfort her in her new depression. I grinned as we began walking through the mall once more.

"Though you know what this means, right?" She looked at me questioningly and I squeezed her hand.

"He's single again! Now's your chance!"

"You're right! Maybe the only reason he never responded to me before was because he was with Leon! Who knows! Maybe Leon threatened to beat him if he showed interest in anyone else! Well now that he is free, I will help him recover. Then you, me, Cloud, and Zack can double-date!"

We both squealed in delight. Double-Dating would be so much fun! We would have the cutest boyfriends in town!

"Hey Aerith…." Tifa seemed to be staring across the walkway, her smile gone and replaced with concentration and uncertainty.

"Isn't that Sephiroth?"

What? Sephiroth? Why would he be at the mall? Turning to follow her pointing finger, pushing it down as I did (ladies didn't point, after all), I saw Sephiroth walking side by side with Zack's other little friend, Rufus.

"He's dating Shinra now? Man, shoulda seen that coming a mile away." Tifa observed, both of us watching as an empty-handed Rufus looked around happily, talking quickly to Sephiroth who was toting two or three bags that probably didn't belong to him.

I sighed. _If only_ those two were together.

"I don't think so, Tifa. Rufus is dating Sephiroth's best friend, Tseng. You knew that. And besides….." I bit my lip and Tifa gave me a concerned look, rubbing my arm to coax me into continuing.

"I think he is trying to take Zack back." Tifa's mouth dropped in a silent gasp as her look went from concern to determination. She was always the greatest friend.

Grabbing my hand, she began leaping me over towards Sephiroth and Rufus. The two not seeming to notice us just yet.

"Come on, Aer. We're going to let this guy know that he can't just march back here and steal your man!"

I suddenly got the feeling that things were not going to go exactly as Tifa believed.

--

**_Rufus's POV_**

"_Can't just march back here and steal your man!"_

Hmm…That certainly sounded interesting. I paused from telling Sephiroth all of the girly Tseng-related love gossip that I had held in for half a year now to turn and see if I would get to see a fight.

I found myself not that ecstatic to see Zack's girlfriend being dragged by an irate, dark haired woman. It was that Lockhart girl. We had shared a few classes last year and I had never particularly cared for her. She was hot-headed and too ruled by her emotions for my tastes.

And the fact that she was storming towards us after what she had just said was a telltale sign that my opinion wasn't going to be changing of her anytime soon.

"This should be good." I said coldly, looking up to give Seph a side glance. He looked down at me blankly and raised an eyebrow. I had missed this. There are few things as fun as looking at someone like they were the lowest piece of filth on the planet while they thought they were telling you off.

By the time the girls reached us, we were already in the perfect "_I'm sorry, were you talking to me, you insignificant worm_?" position, not that it took any thought to achieve this look. It was kind of a permanent setting Seph and I had.

"Excuse me, yea, _you_." I mentally tsk'ed the girl. So rude.

Sephiroth didn't spare her a glance before looking to Aerith, tipping his head slightly to acknowledge her, which caught me off guard.

"Hey, Sephiroth." Lockhart was standing directly in front of him now. I think that she had gotten cocky in a public setting. Had we been in a more private location, she would never express such boldness. Such cockiness should be stomped out.

"I suppose he couldn't hear you past your breasts, allow me to apologize on his behalf." She looked shocked and embarrassed by my comment, which made me feel sated for the moment.

She stared at me furiously before turning to Sephiroth once more. Here I thought we had escaped high school drama. How wrong I was.

"I realize that you may think your Mister Perfect, buddy, and that you're just the hottest thing out there, but ya know what? You can't have Zack. You lost him because you didn't care, and now he's with Aerith. So **Back. Off.**"

Please….Please tell me that Tifa did not just tell _Sephiroth_ to "back off." The smug look she was giving us said that she did, and it also gave me the impression that she expected Sephiroth to just stand there and take it. Not happening, babe.

Seph looked down at the girl with a bored expression.

"I'm sorry. Who are you?"

Tifa's face fell as Sephiroth appeared to have not even heard her 'brutal' rant just moments ago, and Aerith just looked embarrassed and apologetic.

"I'm sorr-" The brown haired girl began before Seph rose a hand to interrupt.

"There is no need for you to apologize. It is hardly your own fault that your friend lacks the self control to keep from storming up to someone and begin accusing them of things they can not begin to understand, and then lack the oral finesse to even do it in a semi-impressive manner."

He returned his now glaring eyes back to Tifa.

"I would suggest that you never speak to me in such a manner again, if you must insist on speaking to me at all. I don't know who you think you are, that you could walk up and tell me that I never cared about Zackary, because I most certainly did, and still do. I am going to do everyone in the building the favor of pretending that you didn't tell me to 'back off' and pretend that you are, instead, just a silly prostitute who had mistaken me for someone else."

He once more rounded his gaze to Aerith.

"And with all due respect, I simply can not sit back without trying to regain Zack's feelings. I am sorry if this is rude or immoral of me, but it is something I must do. If I fail, you have my blessings and the assurance that I will not interfere again."

Aerith looked up to Sephiroth and smiled sadly.

"I think it will be easier than you think. I think Zack and I need to have a talk. I am not so clueless as to realize how much you meant to him, and he you probably still do."

She had apparently caught on the fact that Zack's feelings were less than genuine. So she has a brain after all? Shocking.

With a quiet good-bye, Aerith and a very shunned looking Tifa turned and walked back the way they came.

Smirking up at Seph, I gave him an expectant look.

"Well what are you waiting for? You still have to buy me lunch."

He rolled his eyes as we walked to the Food Court, him carrying bags full of things I convinced him to buy for me.

Sometimes I liked to 'forget' I was the one with all the money.

----

_**Zack's POV**_

It had probably been three hours since Aerith had left my house, and I still wasn't quite sure what had happened.

She had come over to my house and sat us down on my bed, the whole time wearing a sad but knowing smile.

"_I know you still care about him_." She had said. She hadn't needed to say who, and I felt like the worlds biggest asshole for not denying it.

"_It's not fair to be with me when you don't really love me, Zack. Not to either of us."_ She had told me that it hurt more than I could know, but she did want to see me happy, even if that meant crushing all aspirations she had built up since being with me. Yep, I felt like an asshole. A bigger asshole than Rufus. Why? Because I was relieved. I was relieved that she had come in here and ended our relationship at the price of her own tears, and lots of them.

A knock on my bedroom door alarmed me, and I looked up to see Tseng already walking in.

"Are you all right? Mom said you haven't come out of your room since Aerith left. She's afraid she broke up with you. I don't think you could have been that lucky."

A grinned at my brother and his loathing of my now ex-relationship.

"Actually, dear Tseng, you're wrong. She _did_ break up with me."

Tseng smirked and I got the feeling that he really had known that.

"Good," he said. "Because that would make the next few minutes pretty awkward if you were in a relationship."

That was all he said as he got up and walked out of the room. I was about to yell at him and ask just what in the hell he was getting at when Sephiroth walked into my doorway.

He looked…ashamed. Definitely something new. It was pulling at my heart, but I'd be damned before I let it get to me….maybe. Hopefully.

"Zack." He seemed to not know what to say and instead walked in to my room, closing the door behind him. Six months ago the man giving us privacy would have made me rip my pants off, but not now.

"No." I said. I was going to be strong. I wanted to forgive him, but it couldn't just be that easy. I tried to focus on all the pain he caused me when he left, and I was confident that nothing he could say would necessarily convince me, as he was not very 'in-touch' with his personal side. He was always more of an 'actions' person, which if I had any kind of functioning foresight, I would have realized that would be what did me in.

When he offered me a soft smile, I knew I was pretty much done for.

With every step that he came closer, the hurt inside of me diminished more and more. By the time he reached me where I stood, all the anger and bad feelings were gone, and as his hand rose to clutch my cheek, those feelings were replaced with a desire and a burning need that I couldn't remember having felt before.

"Se-" I didn't have time to get his name off of my tongue before the hand on my cheek, now joined by its twin, found its way into my hair and roughly forced our lips together.

At the moment that our lips met, it felt like fire danced throughout my entire body, each part of me reawakening with the love that I had triedto put away for this man.

After a few moments of standing there, letting him for all intensive purposes, rape my mouth, I found the ability to return the near-violent kiss. It was almost as though he were trying to drain the life out of me, not that I had any intention of stoppinghim.

Then something peculiar happened. Just as my own ferocity and flame in the kiss had risen to match his, everything slowed down. His tongue no longer was trying to hog-tie my own, and there was no more biting or mashing our lips together.

Instead, the angry, passionate kiss turned into something else.

As he pulled back away from me and looked into my eyes before softly meeting our lips together once more, the kiss turned into something gentle.

Something that I could love.

* * *

THE END! YAY! 

I can't believe it's over! YESSS! Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed, and enjoyed it. And a big thanks to Sam for bullying me into writing the kiss that gave me the motivation to write the entire chapter….so what if it took a whole month..

Anyway. thanks fo reading and all that.


End file.
